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WINDO 


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LIB  R  ARY 

OF    THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

GIFT    OK 


Received 
Accessions  No. 


helf  No. 


ffcew    Y  orr?    kJoard   of  Coracle  ana   (transportation 

55     LIBERTY     STREET. 

New  York,  November  23d,  1891. 

Dear  Sir: 

I  have  the  honor  to  send  you  by  this 
mail  a  copy  of  the  book  published  by  this 
Board  containing,  among  other  things,  its 
action  touching  the  death  of  the  late  Sec- 
re  :a ry  of  th  e  Tre asu ry,  Willia  m  V/in  do m . 
Please  acknowledge  receipt  to, 

Very  truly  yours, 

DARWIN  R.  JAMES, 

Secretary. 


WILLIAM  WINDOM 


HIS  LAST  SPEECH. 


UKI7EESITT 


ANNUAL     BANQUET 
OF 

THE    NEW    YORK    BOARD    OF    TRADE    AND    TRANSPORTATION, 

n 


PRESS  OF 

OEO.   F.  NESBITT  &  CO., 
NEW  YORK. 


ARTOTYPe.   E.    BIERSTA 


THE   HONORABLE 

WILLIAM    WINDOM, 

SECRETARY  OF  THE  TREASURY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

DIED  IN  THE  SIXTY-FOURTH  YEAR  OF  HIS  ACE, 

WHILE  THE  GUEST  OF  THE 

NEW  YORK  BOARD  OFTRADE  AND  TRANSPORTATION, 

AT    THEIR    ANNUAL    BANQUET, 
DELMONICO'S,    NEW   YORK,    JANUARY    29™,    1891. 


0?   TUB 


[i    (g)    A*     A     T      A*   «=-w  w  * 

\  f?.f ,   o:ir  -rt>; 
IFOB.1^ 


The  speech  delivered  by  MR.  WINDOM  at 
the  Banquet,  together  with  undelivered  speeches,  also 
record  of  the  action  taken  by  the  NEW  YORK  BOARD 
OF  TRADE  AND  TRANSPORTATION,  with  remarks  thereon, 
at  a  special  meeting  held  January  30th,  1891,  are 
published  pursuant  to  a  resolution  of  the  Board,  as  a 
mark  of  respect  for  and  in  honor  of  the  memory  of 
WILLIAM  WINDOM, 


CONTENTS. 


Action  of  the  New  York  Board  of  Trade  and  Transporta 
tion  on  the  death  of  the  Hon.  William  Windom, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury , . ,  8 

Proceedings  of  the  Annual  Banquet  of  the  New  York 
Board  of  Trade  and  Transportation,  January  29th, 
1891.,  19 


Action  taken  by  the  NEW  YORK  BOARD  OF  TRADE 
AND  TRANSPORTATION  on  the  death  of  the  Hon. 
WILLIAM  WINDOM,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

Special   meeting   January    30th,  1891. 


ABSTRACT   FROM   PROCEEDINGS. 


Pursuant  to  announcement  at  the  close  of  the  Banquet 
and  in  the  morning  papers,  a  large  number  of  members 
and  directors  assembled  in  the  rooms  of  the  Board  at 
one  o'clock  P.  M.,  January  30th,  1891. 

Mr.  GEORGE  L.  PEASE,  Vice-President,  occupied  the 
chair. 

The  Hon.  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD,  ex-Secretary  of  State, 
honored  the  Board  by  his  presence  and  was  invited  to  a 
seat  beside  the  Chairman. 

The  Chairman  in  calling  the  meeting  to  order  said : 

Gentlemen  /—You  are  all  aware  ot  the  sad  event  which  last  even 
ing  so  suddenly  .terminated  the  festivities  at  our  Annual  Banquet. 
William  Windom,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States, 


8 

addressed  us,  and  almost  immediately  after  taking  his  seat 
was  stricken  down  by  the  hand  of  death.  We  can  never  forget 
that  experience,  and  let  us  hope  none  of  us  shall  ever  witness 
such  a  sad  scene  again. 

While  his  remains  are  being  conveyed  to  his  family  in  Wash 
ington  under  escort  from  this  Board  consisting  of  our  President, 
Captain  Ambrose  Snow,  our  Secretary,  Hon.  Darwin  R  James, 
Hon.  Wm.  Henry  Arnoux,  Mr.  Seth  E.  Thomas,  Mr.  Norman 
S.  Bentley  and  Mr.  William  H.  Wiley,  we  have  met  at  this 
time  to  place  on  record  some  expression  of  our  high  appreciation 
of  Mr.  Windom's  character  and  many  virtues. 

A  committee  was  appointed  last  evening  to  draft  a  suitable 
minute  and  resolution  to  present  to  you  to-day. 

The  Hon.  Oscar  S.  Straus,  a  member  of  that  Committee, 
General  Stewart  L.  Woodford  and  ex  Judge  Arnoux  being  his 
associates,  will  now  present  the  report. 

Mr.  STRAUS  then  read  the  following  and  moved  its 
adoption : 

William  Windom,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  died  while  our 
guest,  and  just  as  he  had  spoken  to  us  words  of  weighty  wisdom 
and  true  courage.  It  is  therefore  peculiarly  fitting  that  this 
Board  should  express  the  deep  sense  of  the  business  men  of  New 
York  of  the  services  which  he  has  rendered  to  the  Republic  and 
of  the  personal  loss  that  so  many  of  us  have  sustained  in  his 
sudden  death.  At  the  organization  of  our  Board  he  was  our 
associate  and  adviser.  During  all  our  existence  he  has  been  our 
faithful  friend  and  helper. 


The  New  York  Board  of  Trade  and  Transportation  places  this 
minute  upon  its  records  in  honor  of  a  good  citizen,  a  wise  man, 
and  an  honest  and  brave  official. 

For  more  than  thirty  years  William  Windom  has  been  prom 
inent  in  American  public  life.  Long  service  in  the  National 
House  of  Representatives ;  repeated  terms  in  the  Federal  Senate ; 
the  Secretaryship  of  the  Treasury  under  Presidents  Garfield  and 
Harrison  had  combined  to  give  him  rare  opportunities  to  know 
the  needs,  appreciate  the  growth  and  estimate  the  possibilities  of 
the  nation.  He  used  these  opportunities  wisely  and  well. 
During  the  entire  Civil  War  he  was  the  trusted  friend  and  ad 
viser  of  President  Lincoln.  As  a  Representative  and  Senator  he 
favored  all  measures  that  looked  towards  the  practical  and  effi 
cient  development  of  our  great  internal  resources.  As  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  under  President  Garfield  he  successfully  re 
funded  the  maturing  national  debt  by  methods  so  simple,  so 
economical  and  so  masterful  as  to  prove  him  a  truly  great  finan 
cier,  a  worthy  successor  to  Hamilton,  Chase,  and  Sherman.  As 
Secretary  under  President  Harrison  he  labored  courageously  and 
successfully  to  avert  widespread  panic  in  a  season  of  threatened 
financial  trouble.  He  died  speaking  earnest  and  strong  words 
against  the  madness  of  free  coinage  of  silver  under  existing 
financial  conditions.  He  fell  at  the  post  of  duty  as  truly  as  a 
soldier  fails  on  the  field  of  battle. 

Resolved,  that  a  copy  of  this  minute  be  transmitted  to  the 
family  of  the  deceased,  and  also  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States  and  members  of  the  Cabinet. 


10 


REMARKS  OF  MR.  CHRISTOPHER  C.  SHAYNE 


Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:  In  rising  to  second  the  resolu 
tion  just  offered,  I  am  quite  sure  that  I  voice  the  sentiments 
and  express  the  feelings  of  every  member  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  and  Transportation  who  was  present  at  our  annual  banquet 
last  night.  What  a  picture  that  banquet  presented.  At  the 
guests  table  were  seated  some  of  the  leading  men  of  this  conti 
nent.  Our  beloved  President,  who  has  filled  that  office  for  the 
past  thirteen  years,  Captain  Ambrose  Snow,  presided.  At  his 
right,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States ;  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy;  the  Collector  and  the  Appraiser  of  the 
Port  of  New  York ;  the  highly  esteemed  Mr.  Longley,  Attorney- 
General  of  Nova  Scotia ;  the  Hon.  Murat  Halstead,  one  of 
America's  leading  journalists,  and  our  own  respected  Secretary, 
Darwin  R  James.  At  the  left  of  the  President  was  the  Hon. 
ex-Secretary  of  State,  Thomas  F.  Bayard  ;  the  Attorney -General 
of  the  United  States,  the  Hon.  William  H.  H.  Miller ;  the  Hon. 
Wilfred  Laurier,  one  of  Canada's  greatest  statesmen ;  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Morgan,  Gen.  Stewart  L.  Woodford,  and  our  two  distin 
guished  fellow-citizens  and  members,  Orlando  B.  Potter  and 
William  H.  Webb. 

Around  the  six  tables  in  front  were  seated  two  hundred  and 
fifty  of  the  leading  commercial  men  of  the  Metropolis,  represent 
ing  all  lines  of  trade,  the  bone  and  sinew  of  New  York,  the  very 
life-blood  of  the  nation.  Such  a  sight  is  rarely  witnessed. 
Everyone  was  happy  and  contented.  A  bountiful  menu  having 


11 

been  disposed  of,  all  awaited  anxiously  the  feast  of  reason.  Our 
venerable  President  made  one  of  his  characteristic,  terse  speeches 
and  announced  the  toast-master  of  the  evening,  ex-Judge  Arnoux, 
who  happily  introduced  our  guests  to  the  members.  He  then 
called  upon  those  present  to  drink  to  the  toast,  "Our  Country's 
Prosperity  Dependent  upon  its  Instruments  of  Commerce,"  and 
introduced  the  first  speaker  of  the  evening,  Hon.  William 
Windom.  A  handsome  man  of  magnificent  physique  arose. 
He  was  greeted  with  tumultuous  applause,  assuring  him  that  he 
possessed  what  is  most  earnestly  craved  for  by  all  true  men,  the 
love  and  respect  of  his  fellow-man. 

Those  who  were  present  will  agree  with  me  in  declaring  his 
address  to  be  one  of  the  grandest  ever  delivered  in  America  ;  so 
simple,  yet  so  strong;  so  plain  that  all  might  understand;  so 
<sound  in  principle,  echoing  the  honest  conviction  of  the  solid 
men  of  the  nation.  The  sentiments  he  expressed  came  from 
his  heart.  They  were  words  of  golden  eloquence,  emanating 
from  a  sound  mind  and  an  honest  heart;  giving  the  concentrated 
ideas  of  the  study  of  a  lifetime;  so  instructive,  so  patriotic. 
How  eloquently  he  spoke  of  the  country  he  loved  so  much.  Can 
any  of  us  ever  forget  it  ? 

When  Mr.  Windom  had  finished  his  great  effort  and  had  re 
sumed  his  seat,  there  was  a  spontaneous  outburst  of  applause. 
Cheer  after  cheer  greeted  him ;  everyone  present  indorsed  his 
sentiments.  I  have  attended  many  banquets  where  great  enthu 
siasm  existed,  but  I  never  saw  anything  to  exceed  that  of  last 
night.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  fitly  describe  the  scene.  After 
the  applause  had  partially  subsided  Mr.  Windom  arose  in  his  place 
and  gracefully  bowed  his.  acknowledgment  of  tbe  compliment, 


12 

then  sat  down  to  rise  no  more.  For  before  the  echo  of  the 
applause  had  died  away  Mr.  Windom  was  dead ;  our  friend  had 
passed  from  us,  cut  off  in  his  hour  of  triumph,  in  the  very  zenith 
of  glory.  Ah !  how  true,  Mr.  President,  is  it  that 

"Death  rides  on  every  passing  breeze, 
It  lurks  in  every  flower." 

What  a  change  in  a  moment!  A  house  of  joy  suddenly  trans 
formed  into  a  house  of  mourning.  Little  wonder  that  men 
stood  appalled,  and  strong  men  wept. 

William  Windom,  our  guest,  our  former  associate,  has  gone. 
He  was  the  merchants'  friend,  kind-hearted,  clear-headed  ;  always 
ready  to  advise.  The  members  of  this  Board  will  miss  him.  He 
was  much  attached  to  our  organization.  You  will  recall  that 
he  spoke  of  this  in  the  beginning  of  his  speech.  While  in  con 
versation  with  him  in  the  parlor  of  Delmonico's  last  night,  he  said 
to  me  that  it  gave  him  great  pleasure  to  be  present  at  the  banquet 
because  this  was  one  of  his  pet  associations. 

A  good  citizen,  a  statesman,  and  a  gentleman  is  gone.  His 
death  is  a  loss  to  the  whole  country.  His  place  will  be  hard  to 
fill.  None  will  miss  him  more  than  the  merchants  of  New  York. 
He  was  a  grand  character,  a  man  who  ever  had  uppermost  in  his 
mind  and  thoughts,  his  God,  his  family,  and  his  country.  Those 
who  knew  him  well  will  remember  him  as  one  who  was  too  mag 
nanimous  to  be  vindictive,  too  wise  to  be  a  persecutor,  too  patri 
otic  to  be  sectional.  The  circle  of  William  Windom's  affections 
embraced  all  parts  of  this  great  Republic,  and  ill-will  toward  any 
portion  of  it  he  utterly  abhorred.  I  join  with  you,  Mr.  Pres 
ident,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  Board,  in  condoling  the  loss  of 
the  merchants'  friend,  the  friend  of  humanity,  and  hope  the  res 
olution  will  be  unanimously  adopted. 


13 


REMARKS  OF  MR.  FRANCIS  B.  THURBER. 


Mr.  Chairman :  I  rise  to  second  the  resolution  in  memory  of 
our  dead  friend,  and,  as  a  witness  of  the  most  dramatic  incident 
in  my  life's  experience,  I  cannot  but  feel  that  it  was  a  death  such 
as  a  patriot  and  a  statesman  might  covet. 

His  speech  was  one  of  which  any  statesman  might  be  proud, 
arid  the  earnestness  with  which  he  delivered  it  reminded  me  of 
the  lines: 

"  Preached,  as  though  never  sure  to  preach  again, 
And  as  a  dying  man  to  dying  men." 

Some  portions  of  his  speech  in  the  light  of  events  seem  abso 
lutely  prophetic.  Speaking  of  the  currency,  he  said : 

"  As  poison  in  the  blood  permeates  arteries,  veins,  nerves,  brain 
and  heart,  and  speedily  brings  paralysis  or  death,  so  does  a  de 
based  or  fluctuating  currency  permeate  all  the  arteries  of  trade, 
paralyze  all  kinds  of  business,  and  bring  disaster  to  all  classes  of 
people.". 

His  closing  words  were  scarcely  less  remarkable,  and  furnish  a 
programme  for  the  United  States  which  is  worthy  of  being  em 
blazoned  in  letters  of  gold  set  in  a  frame  of  silver  : 

"Give  us  direct  and  ample  transportation  facilities  under  the 
American  flag  and  controlled  by  American  citizens;  a  currency, 
sound  in  quality  and  adequate  in  quantity  ;  an  international  bank 
to  facilitate  exchanges,  and  a  system  of  reciprocity  carefully  ad 
justed  within  the  lines  of  protection,  and  not  only  will  our 


14 

foreign  commerce  again  invade  every  sea, -but  every  American  in 
dustry  will  be  quickened,  and  our  whole  people  feel  the  impulse 
of  a  new  and  enduring  prosperity." 

The  scene  was  one  which  can  never  be  forgotten  ;  the  gilded 
banquet  hall  and  the  sudden  transition  of  the  mood  of  the 
audience  from  the  height  of  enthusiasm  to  the  depths  of  despair 
and  sorrow,  was  something  that  will  last  with  those  present  as 
long  as  life  lasts.  It  is  perhaps  best  described  by  Stoddard's 
lines : 

"  Full-blown  are  the  royal  roses, 

And  ripe  are  the  grapes  on  the  vines  ; 
For  the  sun  in  his  high  pavilion, 

The  Sultan  of  summer,  shines. 
The  world  is  the  garden  of  Irem, 

Or  would  be  with  one  thing  more — 
The  absence  of  Death's  black  camel 

That  is  kneeling  at  every  door." 

Mr.  Windom  was  something  more  than  a  type  of  a  good 
American  citizen.  He  was  a  statesman  in  all  his  thoughts  and 
motives.  He  piloted  the  financial  ship  of  state  between  the  Scylla 
of  Grangerism  and  the  Charybdis  of  Wall  Street,  and  he  has 
perished  at  his  post,  the  third  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  three 
successive  administrations,  who  has  succumbed  to  the  exacting 
duties  of  the  Treasury  Department. 

Is  it  not  about  time  that  those  duties  were  so  divided  and 
so  regulated  that  further  sacrifices  of  a  like  nature  may  be 
avoided  ? 

The  Chairman  then  invited  the  Hon.  Thomas  F.  Bayard 
to  address  the  Board. 


15 

REMARKS  OF  THE  HON.  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD. 


Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen: 

I  was  partaker  in  your  hospitality  and  festivity  last  night,  and 
to-day  I  am  partaker  in  your  grief  and  sorrow. 

When  I  was  invited  to  come  to  New  York  to  attend  your 
banquet  and  heard  that  Mr.  Windom  was  to  be  one  of  your 
guests  I  had  great  satisfaction,  for  I  had  known  him  long  and 
well,  and  I  may  here  be  permitted  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  in 
the  heat  and  hurry  of  business  life  it  sometimes  seems  to  be 
forgotten  by  the  American  people  that  public  men  who  oppose 
each  other  in  the  political  parties  often  do  so  only  in  an  honest 
effort  to  accomplish  the  same  ends,  although  by  different  ways. 
I  was,  as  you  may  know,  a  member  of  that  party  organization 
opposed  to  that  with  which  Mr.  Windom  was  associated.  I 
served  with  him  for  thirteen  years  in  the  Senate,  and  knew  him 
before  that  when  he  was  a  member  of  the  House,  and  out  of  this 
association  there  grew  up  between  us  the  consciousness  that  we 
were  pursuing  the  same  public  ends,  although  we  strove  to 
accomplish  them  by  different  agencies. 

Mr.  Windom's  life  as  a  public  man,  and  as  a  private  citizen, 
was  without  reproach  and  unspotted.  There  was  no  shadow  or 
breath  of  suspicion  on  his  personal  motives  or  character.  His 
political  acts,  of  course,  encountered  the  usual  partizan  and  per 
sonal  criticisms  and  rough  opposition  of  political  life,  and  it  is 
but  natural  that  a  man's  love  for  a  cause  he  believes  in  should 
be  intensified  by  the  opposition  he  meets.  But  public  men 
are  not  all  mere  factionists  for  personal  and  party  success— and 


16 

disinterested  motives  for  the  welfare  of  the  whole  country 
often  guide  their  actions. 

In  1881,  after  this  distinguished  man  was  called  to  the  post  of 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  from  his  place  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  there  was  a  juncture  of  grave  import  to  our 
country,  for  there  were  assaults  of  a  serious  nature  upon  the  gen 
eral  structure  of  our  public  credit,  and  the  agencies  of  business 
that  sustained  it.  Congress  had  adjourned,  and  strong  antag 
onism  to  the  National  Banking  System  had  been  expressed  in 
debate  and  in  the  public  press  sufficient  to  cause  great  uneasiness 
to  those  charged  with  the  management  of  the  financial  affairs  of 
the  Government.  An  event  then  was  witnessed  unprecedented 
in  the  financial  history  of  the  world — the  proposition  by  holders 
of  government  bonds  voluntarily  to  reduce  the  rate  of  interest 
stipulated,  and  to  place  time  for  payment  of  the  principal  subject 
to  the  option  and  control  of  the  Government.  This  voluntary 
reduction  by  public  creditors  of  a  stipulated  interest,  and  accept 
ance  of  the  discretion  of  their  debtor  for  the  liquidation  of  the 
principal  was  a  proposition  unprecedented,  and  naturally  had 
never  been  provided  for  by  any  law,  nor  contemplated  at  the 
time  of  the  creation  of  the  loan. 

The  statesman,  whose  sudden  death  we  now  meet  to  mourn, 
did  me  the  honor,  and,  may  I  not  also  say,  the  justice  to 
come  to  me,  one  of  his  party  opponents,  to  consult  in  regard  to 
the  financial  policy  and  credit  of  the  country.  He  came  to  my 
residence  in  Washington,  accompanied  by  Attorney-General  Mac- 
Veagh,  and  laid  before  me  the  proposed  plan  of  voluntary  refund 
ing  of  certain  heavy  outstanding  loans  at  a  lower  rate  of  interest. 
He  asked  my  opinion  and  approval  of  the  plan. 


17 

Believing  tbat  the  scheme  was  practicable,  and  seeing  the  enor 
mous  moral  strength  it  would  carry  by  implication  to  the  public 
credit,  I  felt  most  desirous  of  seeing  it  adopted,  but  before  decid 
ing  I  asked  a  night  for  careful  consideration,  and  went  the  next 
morning  to  the  Treasury  Department  to  deliver  the  result  of  my 
deliberations. 

I  then  told  Mr.  Windom  that  he  would  not,  in  my  judgment, 
be  true  to  his  public  trust  and  to  the  country,  if  he  did  not  accept 
the  offer  of  the  National  Bond  Holders,  (chiefly  the  banks  of  New 
York  City),  and  save  the  Treasury  the  heavy  amount  of  interest 
as  proposed — and  I  promised  him  to  justify  and  sustain  his  action 
in  public  and  in  private — and  I  have  done  so  on  the  floor  of  the 
Senate,  and  am  glad  to  be  able  to  do  so  now. 

You  all  know  the  history  of  that  remarkable  refund.  How 
quietly  and  successfully,  scarcely  at  the  cost  of  a  dollar,  the 
change  was  made.  There  was  no  sensationalism,  no  flourish  of 
trumpets,  but  no  finer  achievement  is  recorded  in  the  history  of 
American  financiering  than  that  accomplished  under  Mr.  Win- 
dom's  administration  of  the  Treasury.  The  effect  was  felt  all 
over  the  country,  and  not  only  saved  many  millions  and  placed 
the  credit  of  the  United  States  on  the  highest  pinnacle,  but  its 
good  influence  entered  into  the  business  of  the  whole  country 
and  inspired  a  solid  and  enduring  consciousness  of  financial 
strength  and  credit  which  has  not  yet  ceased  to  benefit  us. 

Mr.  Windom  was  a  laborious  and  faithful  servant  of  his  coun 
try.  When  men  fall  upon  the  field  of  battle  the  world  regards 
them  as  heroes;  but,  gentlemen,  I  tell  you,  not  all  the  heroes 
wear  naval  or  military  uniforms,  nor  do  they  all  die  on  the  battle 
field.  They  wear  away  their  vitality  in  public  service  and  die  in 


18 

quiet  offices,  and  in  seclusion,  and  yet  equally  they  die  the  death 
of  heroes;  men  who  have  toiled  and  suffered  to  serve  otheis. 
This  man's  health  was  impaired  and  his  life  shortened  by  serving 
you  and  me,  and  all  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  when 
the  call  came  last  night,  so  sudden  as  it  was,  it  found  him  heart 
and  soul  striving  to  serve  his  country. 

It  is  but  fitting  that  I  should  speak  these  few  unpremeditated 
words  of  sorrow  for  his  death,  and  honor  and  respect  for  his 
memory. 

The  memorial  and  accompanying  resolution  was  then 
unanimously  adopted. 

The  meeting  then  adjourned. 


The  Annual  Banquet. 


21 


PROCEEDINGS  AT  THE  ANNUAL  BANQUET. 


The  ANNUAL  BANQUET  of  the  NEW  YORK  BOARD  OF 
TRADE  AND  TRANSPORTATION  was  given  at  Delmonico's, 
Fifth  Avenue  and  Twenty-sixth  Street,  New  York  City, 
Thursday  Evening,  January  29th,  1891. 

Mr.  AMBROSE  SNOW,  President  of  the  Board,  presided, 
and  two  hundred  and  fifty-three  members  and  guests  filled 
the  hall. 

At  the  guests  table  were  seated,  on  the  right  of  the 
President, 

The  Hon.  WILLIAM  WINDOM, 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

The  Hon.  BENJAMIN  F.  TRACY, 

Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

The  Hon.  DARWIN  R.  JAMES, 

Secretary  of  the  New    York  Board  of  Trade 
and  Transportation. 

The  Hon.  JOHN  W.  LONGLEY, 

Attorney  General  of  Nova  Scotia. 

The  Hon.  MURAT  HALSTEAD. 

The  Hon.  JOEL   B.   ERHARDT, 

Collector  of  the  Port  of  New  York. 

The  Hon.  MARVELLE  W.  COOPER, 

Appraiser  of  the  Port  of  New  York. 


22 
At  the  left  of  the  President  were  seated 

The  Hon.  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD, 

Ex-Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States. 

The  Hon.  W.  H.  H.  MILLER, 

Attorney  General  of  the  United  States. 

The  Hon.  WILFRED  LAURIER, 

Leader    of    Her   Majesty's   Opposition    in    the 
Parliament  of  Canada. 

The  Rev.  D.  PARKER  MORGAN,  D.D. 

Mr.  WILLIAM  H.  WEBB. 

The  Hon.  ORLANDO  B.  POTTER. 

The  Rev.  D.  PARKER  MORGAN,  D.  D.,  asked  the  Divine 
blessing. 

At  fifteen  minutes  after  nine  o'clock  the  President  arose 
and  spoke  as  follows : 


23 


SPEECH  OF  MR.  AMBROSE  SNOW, 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  NEW  YOliK  BOARD  OF  TRADE  AND  TRANSPORTATION. 


Gentlemen :  It  again  becomes  my  pleasant  duty  to  greet  you 
on  the  occasion  of  this  your  annual  banquet,  and,  as  your 
President,  to  welcome  in  your  behalf  your  invited  guests.  I 
congratulate  you  that  we  have  with  us  this  evening  a  number  of 
very  distinguished  gentlemen.  Their  presence  at  this  time  is  a 
most  pleasing  tribute  to  the  commercial  utility  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  and  Transportation.  Our  guests  are  not  only  an  honor  to 
us,  but  they  reflect  honor  upon  the  communities  in  which  they 
dwell.  They  are  men  whose  experience  and  wisdom  fit  them  to 
lead,  and  whose  utterances  shape  public  opinion  wherever  the 
English  language  is  spoken.  Questions  of  great  importance  will 
be  touched  upon  briefly  in  your  presence  this  evening,  and  I  ven 
ture  to  remind  our  distinguished  guests  that  they  have  an  audi 
ence  in  front  of  them,  intelligent,  quick  to  learn,  and  wise  to 
know  ;  an  audience  which  has  come  up  through  experiences  of 
the  kind  which  fit  men  to  be  wise  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
world's  work.  I  am  confident,  gentlemen,  that  your  guests  will 
have  your  courteous  attention  to  the  end  of  the  most  interesting 
programme  before  us. 

At  the  conclusion  of  his  speech  the  President  announced 
that  the  Hon.  ex-Judge  William  Henry  Arnoux  would 
officiate  as  the  Toast  Master  of  the  evening,  and  requested 
Judge  Arnoux  to  take  a  place  upon  the  platform. 

Judge  Arnoux  then  took  a  place  at  the  left  of  the  Presi 
dent  and  spoke  as  follows : 


24 


SPEECH  OF  THE  HON.  WM.  HENRY  ARNOUX. 


Gentlemen  of  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Transportation  : 

You  have  done  ample  justice  to  the  repast  that  Delmonico 
has  so  lavishly  spread  before  you,  but  I  now  invite  your  atten 
tion  to  the  richer  feast — the  feast  of  reason  and  the  flow  of 
soul  that  awaits  you,  and  which,  in  character  and  eloquence 
surpasses  anything  ever  before  offered  for  your  consideration 
and  which  has  rarely  been  equalled  under  any  circumstances. 
Statesmen  high  in  the  councils  of  our  nation  in  present  and  past 
administrations,  and  others  in  other  lands,  all  of  whom  have 
achieved  world  wide  fame  for  their  oratory  and  mental  endow 
ments  are  our  honored  guests  this  evening.  They  have  come 
upon  your  invitation  from  important  duties  that  they  may 
impart  to  you  lessons  of  wisdom  on  the  living  issues  of  the  present 
hour,  and  through  you  on  the  wings  of  the  press  to  thinking 
men  everywhere. 

Chiefest  among  this  brilliant  galaxy  of  guests  is  the  Honor 
able,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  He  comes  to  us  from  the 
great  and  teeming  Northwest,  of  which  our  inimitable  General 
Sherman  tells  the  following  story.  In  his  march  through 
Georgia,  he  on  one  occasion  reviewed  the  Union  troops  on  the 
shaded  piazza  of  the  mansion  of  an  old  plantation.  As  the 
almost  interminable  host  marched  by  the  amazed  planter  in 
quired  where  they  were  enlisted.  When  Sherman  told  the 
tens  of  thousands  that  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota  had  sent,  States 


25 

known  to  him  only  as  the  Northwest  Territory,  the  old  man  was 
filled  with  despair  for  the  Confederate  cause.  What  the  North 
west  then  did  for  the  Union  she  has  ever  since  continued  to  do. 
She  has  furnished  men.  In  wa**,  soldiers  ;  in  peace,  statesmen. 

Its  most  distinguished  statesman  and  financier  I  now  have  the 
honor  to  introduce  to  you,  the  Honorable  William  Windom,  of 
Minnesota,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  "of  the  United  States.  (Long 
continued  applause.) 


SPEECH  OF 
THE  HON.  WILLIAM  WINDOM. 


29 


SPEECH   OF  THE   HON.    WILLIAM   WINDOM, 

SECRETARY  OF  THE  TREASURY. 


Responding  to  the  toast,  "  OUR  COUNTRY'S  PROSPER 
ITY  DEPENDENT  UPON  ITS  INSTRUMENTS  OF  COMMERCE," 
Mr.  WINDOM  said  : 

Mr.  President  and   Gentlemen  of  the  New  York  Board  of  Trade 
and  Transportation: 

Early  association  with  many  of  the  charter  members  of  this 
Board,  and  full  sympathy  with  the  objects  and  purposes  of  its 
organization  make  this  a  peculiarly  interesting  occasion  to  me, 
for  I  am  reminded  to-night  of  the  early  days  of  your  association, 
when  I  was  accustomed  to  meet  with  your  members  to  discuss 
questions  of  public  importance.  The  country  owes  you  a  debt  of 
gratitude  for  what  you  have  done  in  the  interests  of  better  and 
cheaper  transportation.  Eighteen  years  ago,  when  your  Board  was 
organized  and  entered  upon  its  work,  our  facilities  for  the  inter 
change  of  products  were  quite  inadequate,  and  freight  charges 
were  more  than  double  what  they  are  now. 

Improvements  made  by  the  transportation  companies  them 
selves  have  been  very  satisfactory,  but  though  much  has  been 
accomplished  in  the  cheapening  of  rates,  much  more  remains  to 
be  done.  If  I  might  be  allowed  to  suggest  another  very 
desirable  improvement,  it  would  be  that  more  water  be  put  into 
our  harbors  and  canals,  and  less  into  some  of  our  railroad  stocks. 

I  am  to  speak  briefly  of  the  instruments  of  commerce,  in  their 
relation  to  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  our  country. 


30 

The  subject  is,  you  will  observe,  very  broad,  and  my  time  very- 
limited.  I  shall,  therefore,  confine  rny  remarks  to  the  two  chief 
instrumentalities  of  commerce — transportation  and  money.  By 
the  former  commodities  change  places,  and  by  the  latter  they 
exchange  ownership.  Even  as  to  these  I  must  content  myself 
with  the  bare  statement  of  facts  and  deductions,  without  any  at 
tempt  at  argument  or  elaboration. 

A  nation's  wealth  and  prosperity  are  usually  in  proportion  to 
the  extent  and  success  of  its  commerce,  and  commerce  itself  is 
dependent  upon  the  adequacy  and  adaptation  of  these  two  essen 
tial  instruments. 

The  history  of  all  civilized  countries  attests  the  fact  that  the 
nation  best  equipped  in  these  respect*,  rapidly  becomes  the  most 
powerful,  the  richest  and  the  most  prosperous. 

DOMESTIC   COMMERCE. 

Our  own  country  is  no  exception  to  this  rule.  No  nation  has 
ever  fostered  more  liberally,  or  protected  more  carefully  its  inter 
nal  and  coastwise  trade  than  we  have  done,  and  the  resultant 
magnitude  and  prosperity  of  our  domestic  commerce  is,  I  believe, 
without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  world.  (Cheers.)  For 
the  accommodation  and  development  of  our  home  trade,  we  have 
built  45  per  cent,  of  all  the  railroads  of  the  world.  We  have 
more  miles  of  railroad  than  all  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa  com 
bined.  The  floating  tonnage  of  the  United  States,  engaged  in 
coastwise  commerce,  and  on  our  lakes  and  rivers,  is  very  far  in 
excess  of  that  of  any  other  nation.  One  or  two  comparisons  will 
convey  some  idea  of  this  stupendous  commerce.  They  have  been 
carefully  compiled  by  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  and,  I  believe,  can 
be  depended  upon  as  absolutely  correct.  The  tonnage  which 


31 

passed  through  the  Detroit  River  alone  during  the  234  days  of 
navigation  in  1889  exceeded  by  2,468,127  tons  the  entire  British 
and  foreign  tonnage  which  entered  and  cleared  at  London  and 
Liverpool  that  year,  in  the  foreign  and  coastwise  trade.  (Loud 
cheers.) 

The  freight  which  passed  through  the  St.  Mary's  Falls  Canal  in 
1890  exceeded  by  2,257,876  tons  the  entire  tonnage  of  all  the 
world  which  passed  through  the  Suez  Canal  in  1889. 

The  freight  carried  on  railroads  of  the  United  States  in  1890 
exceeded  by  over  36,000,000  tons  the  aggregate  carried  on  all  the 
railroads  of  the  United  Kingdom,  Germany,  France,  and  Russia  in 
1889.  (Cheers.) 

Commodities  are  interchanged  among  our  own  people  with 
greater  facility,  and  at  cheaper  rates,  (distance  being  considered), 
than  in  any  other  country  on  earth. 

The  increase  of  national  wealth  and  prosperity,  largely  due  to 
this  system  of  protection  to  our  home  markets  and  domestic  trade, 
and  to  the  generous  development  of  these  instrumentalities 
of  commerce,  has  become  the  marvel  of  the  world.  Take  a  few 
comparisons,  based  upon  the  United  States  census  of  1880,  and 
upon  figures  furnished  by  Mr.  Mullhall,  the  English  statistician. 

In  manufactures  we  exceeded  Great  Britain  in  1880  by  $1,579, 
570,191,  France  by  $2,115,000,000,  and  Germany  by  $2,- 
305,000,000. 

In  products  of  agriculture  we  excelled  Great  Britain  by  (and  I 
want  you  to  think  what  a  billion  is,  gentlemen)  $1,425,000,000, 
France  by  $625,000,000,  and  Germany  by  $925,000,000. 

Our  earnings  or  income  for  1880  from  commerce,  agriculture, 
mining,  manufactures,  the  carrying  trade,  and  banking  exceeded 


32 

those  of  Great  Britain  from  the  same  sources  by  $1,250,000,000, 
France  by  $2,395,000,000,  and  Germany  by  $2,775,000,000. 

Our  increase  of  wealth  from  1870  to  1880  as  compared  with 
that  of  other  nations  was : 

United  States $13,573,481,493 

Great  Britain 3,250,000,000 

France 1,475,000,000 

Germany 3,625,000,000 

164  per  cent,  more  than  all  the  nations  combined. 

In  1880  our  home  markets  consumed  about  ten  billion  dollars' 
worth  of  our  own  products,  an  amount  equal  to  the  entire 
accumulated  wealth  of  Spain  through  all  the  ages  past,  three 
times  the  increase  of  wealth  in  Great  Britain  for  ten  years,  and 
seven  times  the  increase  of  France  for  the  same  period.  Our 
home  markets  that  year  absorbed  five  times  as  much  of  our 
manufactured  products — if  I  have  any  free  trade  friends  here  I 
wish  they  would  make  a  note  of  it — (Laughter.) — as  Great 
Britain  exported  of  hers  to  all  the  markets  of  the  world.  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  the  world  looks  with  longing  eyes  upon  this 
market  of  ours  ? 

Of  course,  I  do  not  claim  that  all  this  marvelous  development 
of  wealth  is  due  to  railroads  and  ships,  but  without  them  it  would 
certainly  have  been  impossible.  But  for  these  instrumentalities 
of  commerce,  the  rich  farms  of  the  West  and  South,  and  even  of 
the  Middle  States,  would  have  slumbered  in  primeval  silence,  and 
the  myriads  of  shops  and  factories  would  never  have  existed. 
Were  the  ship  and  the  railroad  withdrawn,  business  would  be 
paralyzed,  and  desolation  would  reign  supreme  over  more  than 
half  of  our  broad  domain. 

FOREIGN   COMMERCE. 

I  have  mentioned  these  facts  not  boasting  as  an  American 


but  for  the  purpose  of  showing  a  contrast.  Now  contrast 
these  grand  results  of  our  liberally  developed  domestic  com 
merce,  operating  upon  our  protected  industries,  with  the 
present  shameful  condition  of  our  foreign  carrying  trade,  which 
has  not  only  been  sadly  neglected,  but  sometimes  treated  with 
actual  hostility  by  the  Government. 

There  was  a  time  when  we  stood  first  among  the  nations  in 
ship-building,  and  Great  Britain  alone  excelled  us  in  ocean  ton 
nage.  Once  95  per  cent,  of  our  imports  and  89  per  cent,  of  our 
exports  were  carried  in  American  bottoms,  and  our  merchant 
marine  became  the  boast  of  every  citizen  and  the  envy  of  the 
world. 

Now,  so  far  as  foreign  trade  is  concerned,  our  ship-yards  are 
comparatively  silent,  and  our  flag  has  almost  disappeared  from 
the  high  seas.  The  relative  decline  in  our  foreign  shipping  has 
been  constant  and  alarming,  until  in  1889  only  12|  per  cent,  of 
our  imports  and  exports  was  carried  in  American  bottoms,  being 
the  smallest  percentage  in  any  year  since  the  formation  of  the 
Government.  Time  will  not  permit  me  to  trace  the  rise  and  full 
of  this  industry,  or  to  point  out  in  detail  the  causes  which  have 
resulted  in  our  present  humiliating  and  unprofitable  condition. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  that  the  fault  was  not  with  the  founders  of  our 
Government.  They  fully  appreciated  the  value  and  the  necessity 
of  a  strong  and  healthy  merchant  marine,  and  left  on  record  no 
doubt  of  their  purpose  to  protect  the  interests  of  the  Kepublic  on 
the  water  as  well  as  on  the  land.  The  second  act  passed  by  the 
First  Congress — July  4,  1789— provided  for  the  protection  of 
American  shipping  by  the  imposition  of  a  discriminating  duty 
in  favor  of  teas  brought  in  American  vessels,  thereby  signalizing 


34 

the  first  4th  of  July  under  the  Constitution  by  a  declaration  of 
commercial  independence,  as  a  supplement  to  the  declaration  of 
political  independence,  made  thirteen  years  before.  (Loud  cheers.) 
The  third  act  of  Congress,  passed  sixteen  days  later,  imposed 
tonnage  duties  as  follows : 

Cents. 

American  vessels,  per  ton 06 

American-built  vessels  belonging  to  foreigners,  per  ton 30 

All  other  vessels,  per  ton 50 

(Cheers.) 

On  the  first  of  September  the  same  year  Congress  prohibited 
any  but  American  vessels  from  carrying  the  American  flag. 

By  the  tariff  act  of  1794,  an  additional  discriminating  duty  of 
10  per  cent,  was  levied  on  all  goods  imported  in  vessels  not  of 
the  United  States.  And  in  all  changes  of  the  tariff  prior  to  the 
war  of  1812,  this  discriminating  duty  of  10  per  cent,  was 
re-enacted.  So  great  was  the  development  of  our  ship-building 
and  shipping  interests  under  the  fostering  influence  of  these  acts, 
that  we  sold  ships  amounting  to  hundreds  of  thousands  of  tons  to 
foreigners,  and  soon  took  front  rank  among  maritime  nations  of 
the  world.  (Applause.) 

Voicing  the  national  pride  in  1825,  Daniel  Webster  said :  "  We 
have  a  commerce  which  leaves  no  sea  unexplored ;  navies  which 
take  no  law  from  superior  force."  (Cheers.)  How  like  bitter  irony 
these  words  would  sound  in  1891!  (Hear,  hear.)  The  brilliancy 
of  our  achievements  on  the  ocean  begat  over-confidence,  and  lis 
tening  to  the  siren  voice  of  free  trade,  we  gradually  yielded  to  the 
seductive  phrase,  "  reciprocal  liberty  of  commerce,"  which  at  that 
time  became  very  popular,  until  in  1828  Congress  swept  away 
all  protection  to  our  foreign  shipping  interest,  and  opened  our 


35 

ports  to  the  ships  of  all  nations,  on  the  same  terms  as  to  our  own. 
So  strong  had  our  position  become  under  the  protective  policy  of 
the  first  twenty-five  years  of  national  life,  that  our  merchant 
marine  continued  to  be  prosperous  so  long  as  wooden  vessels 
were  the  only  vehicles  of  ocean  commerce,  and  other  nations 
refrained  from  heavy  subsidies  to  their  ships.  But  when  wooden 
vessels  began  to  be  supplanted  by  iron  steamers,  and  European 
governments  poured  their  contributions  into  the  treasuries  of 
their  steamship  companies,  the  decadence  of  American  shipping 
began  and  has  continued  ever  since.  How  could  it  be  otherwise  ? 
The  American  people  ask  no  odds  against  any  in  the  world. 
Give  them  an  even  chance  and  they  will  distance  all  competitors ; 
but  how  can  they  be  expected  to  compete  unaided  against  foreign 
shipyards  and  shipowners,  backed  by  the  power  and  the  treasuries 
of  their  governments  ?  The  amount  which  has  been  thus  con 
tributed  to  sweep  our  commerce  from  the  seas  can  not  be  accu 
rately  stated,  but  it  is  known  to  have  reached  hundreds  of  millions 
of  dollars. 

The  mischief  and  its  cause  are  both  apparent.  What  is  the 
remedy  ?  It  can  not  be  found  in  the  re-enactment  of  the  legisla 
tion  of  1789,  because  treaties  stand  in  the  way,  and  it  would  not 
now  be  expedient  even  if  there  were  no  treaties  on  the  subject. 
In  my  judgment  the  remedy  is  plain  and  easily  applied.  If  we 
would  regain  our  lost  prestige,  reinstate  our  flag  upon  the  ocean, 
and  open  the  markets  of  the  world  to  American  producers,  we 
must  make  the  contest  with  the  same  weapons  which  have  proved 
so  successful  in  the  hands  of  our  rivals.  No  nation  can  better 
afford  this  kind  of  contest  than  ourselves.  Surely  no  object  is  of 
greater  importance  than  the  enlargement  of  our  foreign  markets, 


36 

and  nothing  will  contribute  so  much  to  that  end  as  the 
command  of  direct  and  ample  facilities  for  reaching  them.  The 
folly  and  the  danger  of  depending  upon  our  competitors  for  the 
means  of  reaching  competitive  markets  can  not  be  expressed. 
(Cheers.)  Aid  to  our  merchant  marine  is  not  aid  to  a  class,  but  to 
the  whole  people — to  the  farmer,  the  merchant  and  the  manufact 
urer,  quite  as  much  as  to  the  shipbuilder  and  the  shipowner. 

But  it  will  cost  money.  Will  it  pay  ?  Yes,  an  hundred  fold. 
The  aggregate  of  our  foreign  carrying  trade  for  the  past  twenty- 
five  years,  while  not  more  than  one-tenth  our  domestic  trade, 
has,  nevertheless,  reached  the  enormous  sum  of  $29,465,124,920. 
Estimating  the  cost  of  transportation  at  10  per  cent,  of  the  value 
of  the  goods,  we  have  an  expenditure  of  about  $3,000,000,000, 
at  least  80  per  cent,  of  which— $2,400,000,000— has  been  paid  to 
foreign  shipowners.  If  we  add  to  this  $20,000,000  a  year  paid 
for  passage  money,  we  have  a  grand  total  of  $2,900,000,000  paid 
to  foreign  labor  and  capital  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century — 
a  sum  larger  by  nearly  two  hundred  millions  than  the  maximum 
of  our  bonded  debt  growing  out  of  the  late  war.  Are  not  the 
benefits  which  would  accrue  from  paying  these  sums  to  our  own 
people  worth  saving?  During  that  period  we  have  exported  of 
gold  and  silver,  to  pay  balances  of  trade  against  us,  an  excess  of 
$607,000,000  more  than  we  have  imported.  Had  we  carried  a 
fair  share  of  our  own  foreign  commerce  in  American  ships, 
owned  by  American  citizens,  and  manned  by  American  seamen, 
this  vast  sum,  and  much  more,  might  have  been  retained  at  home 
to  enrich  our  own  people. 

Suppose  that  for  twenty-five  years  we  had  given  $5,000,000  a 
year  in  aid  of  our  foreign  shipping,  and  reduced  by  that  amount 


37 

the  prepayments  of  our  bonded  debt,  should  we  not  have  been 
far  better  off  than  we  are  now?     (Loud  cheers.) 

Is  it  not  high  time  these  vast  interests  receive  attention  ? 
Have  we  not  tried  the  do-nothing  policy  long  enough  ?  Shall 
we  give  that  protection  and  support  to  our  foreign  merchant 
marine  that  other  nations  give  to  theirs,  (loud  cries  of  "Yes," 
"  Yes,"  and  cheers),  and  which  we  freely  give  to  all  our  other 
great  interests,  or  shall  we  accept  as  inevitable  our  present 
shameful  position  ?  I  regret  to  say  that  the  uniform  record  of 
indifference,  if  not  actual  hostility,  during  the  last  fifty  years, 
affords  little  reason  for  encouragement.  In  fact,  the  tendency  of 
late  has  been  to  surrender  to  foreigners  even  our  domestic  com 
merce,  rather  than  to  assert  ourselves  upon  the  ocean.  (Cries 
of  "  Good,"  "  Good.")  (Gentlemen  will  please  not  applaud  but 
allow  me  to  get  through,  with  my  remarks.  My  time  is  getting 
short.)  Discriminations  of  the  most  astonishing  character  have 
been  made,  both  by  Congress  and  by  Treasury  regulations,  in 
favor  of  Canadian  railroad  lines  and  steamships  against  our  own. 
One  instance  of  this  kind  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  nature  and 
extent  of  many  other  discriminations  of  like  character.  Asiatic 
merchandise  destined  for  New  York,  if  brought  in  American 
vessels  to  San  Francisco,  must  undergo  all  the  forms  and  delays 
of  entry,  under  the  strict  scrutiny  of  customs  officers,  and  be 
then  placed  in  cars  heavily  bonded  for  transportation  through 
our  own  country  to  New  York,  while  the  same  merchandise,  if 
brought  in  Canadian  or  British  steamships  to  Vancouver,  is  trans 
ferred  at  once,  and  without  any  substantial  surveillance,  to  Cana 
dian  railways,  which  are  not  required  to  give  bond,  but  are  per 
mitted  to  pass  our  frontier  and  proceed  to  New  York  or  other 


38 

Eastern  ports  unvexed  by  any  of  the  disagreeable  attentions  of 
customs  officers.  The  same  discrimination  has  existed  for  years 
in  favor  of  European  goods  landed  at  Montreal  and  trans 
ferred  to  Canadian  railroads  for  Western  American  ports,  against 
goods  landed  at  New  York,  Boston,  and  other  Eastern  ports,  to 
be  transported  wholly  through  our  own  country  to  their  Western 
destination.  The  result  of  these  unfair  and  unjust  discrimina 
tions  against  our  own  people  and  our  own  transportation  lines  has 
been,  not  only  seriously  to  jeopardize  the  revenues,  but  also  to 
build  up  foreign  transportation  interests  at  the  expense  of  our  own. 

"Reciprocal  liberty  of  commerce"  is  a  high-sounding,  seduc 
tive  phrase,  but  the  kind  of  liberty  our  foreign  shipping  interest 
has  enjoyed,  for  the  last  fifty  years,  is  the  liberty  to  die  under 
unjust  discriminations  of  the  London  Lloyd's  Register  Association, 
the  crushing  power  of  European  treasuries,  and  the  utter  neglect 
and  indifference  of  our  own  Government.  Reciprocity  itself  is  a 
most  valuable  thing  if  kept  within  the  lines  of  protection,  but 
reciprocity  by  which  we  surrender  our  merchant  marine  to  our 
rivals,  or  give  away  a  home  market,  worth  ten  times  more  to  us 
than  all  the  other  markets  of  the  world,  in  the  vain  attempt  to 
grasp  an  uncertain  market  abroad,  is  a  policy  freighted  with 
immeasurable  disaster.  (Loud  applause.) 

Presidents  of  the  United  States  have  repeatedly  expressed  the 
national  humiliation  and  appealed  to  Congress  for  action  in  be 
half  of  our  rapidly  vanishing  merchant  marine,  but  thus  far  their 
words  have  fallen  upon  deaf  ears.  Let  us  hope  that  the  urgent 
appeals  of  President  Harrison,  on  this  subject,  may  bear  fruit  in 
some  well-devised  measure  of  protection  and  encouragement. 
(Cheers.) 


MONEY. 

Pardon  a  few  words  with  reference  to  the  instrument  by  which 
commodities  exchange  ownership. 

It  is  as  essential  to  commerce  that  the  currency  with  which  it 
is  conducted  be  adapted,  both  in  quantity  and  quality,  to  the 
wants  of  trade  as  that  the  vehicles  of  transportation  should  be 
adapted  to  their  purposes.  If  the  circulation  be  deficient,  trade  is 
crippled,  prices  fall,  obligations  are  dishonored,  distrust  is  created, 
and  commercial  panic  and  disaster  ensue.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
circulation  be  redundant,  prices  become  temporarily  inflated, 
wild  speculations  are  stimulated,  debts  are  recklessly  contracted, 
credit  is  dangerously  expanded,  and  for  a  time  trade  seems  to  float 
upon  the  high  tide  of  success,  when,  suddenly,  the  failure  of 
some  large  firm,  or  banking-house,  discloses  the  true  situation, 
and  the  entire  fabric  of  fictitious  prosperity  falls  with  a  crash  even 
more  disastrous  than  can  be  produced  by  a  deficient  circulation. 

The  ideal  financial  system  would  be  one  that  should  furnish 
just  enough  of  absolutely  sound  currency  to  meet  the  legitimate 
wants  of  trade,  and  no  more;  and  that  should  have  enough  elas 
ticity  of  volume  to  adjust  itself  to  the  varying  necessities  of  the 
people.  I  know  this  seems  difficult  of  attainment,  but  I  believe 
it  is  substantially  possible.  Could  such  a  circulating  medium  be 
secured  the  gravest  commercial  disasters  which  threaten  our 
future  might  be  avoided.  These  disasters  have  always  come 
when  unusual  activity  in  business  has  caused  an  abnormal  de 
mand  for  money,  as  in  the  autumn  for  the  movement  uf  our  im 
mense  crops.  There  will  always  be  great  danger  at  those  times 
under  any  cast-iron  system  of  currency,  such  as  we  now  have. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  peculiar  conditions  which  enabled  the 


40 

United  States  Treasury  to  disburse  over  $75,000,000  in  about 
two  and  a  half  months  last  autumn,  I  am  firmly  convinced  that 
the  stringency,  in  August  and  September,  would  have  resulted 
in  wide-spread  financial  ruin.  (Applause.)  Like  commercial 
conditions  will  frequently  occur,  but  it  is  not  at  all  probable  that 
they  can  be  encountered,  and  their  consequences  averted  by  like 
action  of  the  Government;  nor  is  it  desirable  that  such  power 
should  be  lodged  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  (Applause.) 
I  am  thoroughly  convinced  that  a  better  method  can  be 
devised,  which  will,  in  a  large  degree,  place  the  power  of 
expansion  and  contraction  in  the  hands  of  the  people  themselves. 
The  opportunity  for  securing  such  a  currency  may  be  found  in 
our  bonded  debt,  which  should,  in  my  judgment,  be  in  part 
exchanged  for  inter-convertible  bonds,  bearing  a  low  rate  of 
interest,  and  always  interchangeable  for  money  at  the  will  of  the 
holder.  (Cheers.)  Of  course,  I  can  not  now  enter  upon  an  argu 
ment  on  this  subject,  but  I  may  be  excused  for  briefly  mentioning 
the  only  objection  I  have  ever  heard  to  the  plan  which  has  any 
apparent  weight,  viz :  that  it  would  cause  an  outflow  of  money 
from  the  Treasury  when  speculations  run  high,  and  an  inflow  in 
times  of  threatened  panic,  and  would  therefore  tend  to  "  inflate 
inflation  and  contract  contraction,"  This  objection  was  conclu 
sively  answered  and  the  policy  triumphantly  vindicated  in  1862 
and  1863,  under  the  administration  of  Salmon  P.  Chase,  who  was 
one  of  the  ablest  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury  we  have  ever  had. 
(Cheers.)  Mr.  Chase  had  urged  and  Congress  had  authorized  what 
he  called  the  "  SAVINGS  BANK  OF  THE  PEOPLE,"  whereby  they 
could  deposit  in  the  Treasury  up  to  the  limit  of  $100,000,000,  and 
receive  an  inter-convertible  bond,  drawing  not  more  than  5  per 


41 

cent,  interest,  which  bond  was  again  convertible  into  cash  at  the 
will  of  the  holder  on  ten  days'  notice.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
year  1862,  and  the  first  half  of  1863,  was  a  period  of  most  active 
speculation,  and  yet  those  deposits  continually  increased  until, 
on  June  30,  1863,  they  had  overrun  the  limit,  and  amounted  to 
$104,934,102. 

In  August  and  September  of  1863  the  unusual  activity  of 
business  had  placed  the  country  in  the  same  condition  it  was  last 
autumn.  A  severe  stringency  set  in,  and  panic  was  threatened. 
Did  this  vast  deposit  of  over  $100,000,000  remain  in  safe  hiding, 
and  thereby  intensify  the  stringency?  Exactly  the  reverse 
occurred.  At  the  time  when  it  is  argued  that  everybody  who 
could,  would  avail  himself  of  this  safe  and  convenient  place  for 
hoarding  money,  and  draw  four  and  five  per  cent,  interest  on  it 
until  the  storm  should  pass,  the  money  actually  flowed  out  at  the 
rate  of  millions  a  day,  until,  on  December  1,  1863,  $59,427,000 
had  come  out  to  the  relief  of  business,  and  a  commercial  crisis 
had  been  thereby  averted.  I  commend  this  item  of  history  as  of 
more  value  than  any  theory. 

The  quality  of  circulation  is  even  more  important  than  the 
quantity.  Numerous  devices  for  enlarging  credit  may,  and  often 
do,  avert  the  evils  of  a  deficient  circulation,  and  a  redundancy 
may  sometimes  modify  its  own  evils  before  their  results  become 
universal ;  but  for  the  baleful  effects  of  a  debased  and  fluctuating 
currency  there  is  no  remedy,  except  by  the  costly  and  difficult 
return  to  sound  money.  (Cheers.)  As  poison  in  the  blood  per 
meates  arteries,  veins,  nerves,  brain  and  heart,  and  speedily  brings 
paralysis  or  death,  so  does  a  debased  or  fluctuating  currency  per 
meate  all  the  arteries  of  trade,  paralyze  all  kinds  of  business,  and 


42 

bring  disaster  to  all  classes  of  people.  ("  Hear,  hear,"  and 
applause.)  It  is  as  impossible  for  commerce  to  flourish  with 
such  an  instrument,  as  it  is  for  the  human  body  to  grow 
strong  and  vigorous  with  a  deadly  poison  lurking  in  the  blood. 
Such  a  currency  is  bad  enough  in  domestic  trade,  but  it  is 
absolutely  fatal  to  the  prosperity  of  foreign  commerce.  The 
nation  that  attempts  to  conduct  its  foreign  trade  with  a  cur 
rency  of  uncertain  value,  or  of  inferior  quality,  is  placed  at  a 
fearful  disadvantage.  It  would  seem  superfluous  to  impress 
this  universal  and  well-known  experience  were  it  not  too  apparent 
that  this  nation  has  been  in  danger  of  repeating  the  costly  ex 
periment  with  just  such  a  currency.  The  tendency  of  events  has 
recently  been  in  that  direction,  and  the  apprehension  of  danger 
created  thereby  has  caused  the  loss,  since  December  1,  of  over 
$24,000,000  of  gold  from  the  Treasury,  and  of  probably  a  much 
larger  amount  from  the  circulation.  I  am  happy  to  say,  how 
ever,  that  this  peril  seems  now  to  have  passed  (loud  and  long 
continued  cheering)  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  its  evil  effects  will  soon 
disappear.  The  "  sober  second  thought "  of  the  people  is  asserting 
itself  as  usual,  and  signal  lights  of  safety  are  here  and  there 
becoming  visible. 

Let  me  speak  very  plainly,  although  very  briefly,  on  this  most 
important  subject. 

Believing1  that  there  is  not  enough  of  either  gold  or  silver  in 
the  world  to  meet  the  necessities  of  business,  I  am  an  earnest  bi- 
metalist,  and  concede  to  no  one  a  stronger  desire  than  I  feel  for 
the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver,  as  soon  as  conditions  can 
be  reached  through  international  agreement,  or  otherwise,  by 
which  such  coinage  shall  be  safe.  (Cheers.)  But  it  is  my  firm 


43 

conviction  that  for  this  country  to  enter  upon  that  experiment 
now,  and  under  existing  conditions,  would  be  extremely  disas 
trous,  (Hear,  hear)  and  that  it  would  result  not  in  bi-metalism, 
but  in  silver  mono-metalism.  Such  an  experiment  would,  in  my 
judgment,  prove  a  greater  disappointment  to  its  advocates  than 
to  anyone  else.  They  insist  that  it  would  expand  the  circulation 
and  enhance  the  value  of  silver.  I  believe  it  would  produce  a 
swift  and  severe  contraction,  and  eventually  reduce  the  market 
value  of  silver.  Let  me  briefly  suggest  some  of  my  reasons  for 
this  belief: 

Free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  by  the  United  States, 
while  the  other  great  nations  pursue  an  opposite  policy,  would  in 
vite  all  the  owners  of  that  metal,  throughout  the  world,  to  exchange 
37 1J  grains  of  pure  silver,  worth  about  83  cents,  for  23.22  grains 
of  pure  gold,  worth  everywhere  100  cents.  (Applause.)  Nearly 
all  the  nations  of  Europe  are  anxious  to  exchange  their  silver  for 
gold,  and  they  would  at  once  accept  so  tempting  an  offer.  The 
mint  statistics  of  the  Treasury  Department  show  that  the  stock 
of  full  legal-tender  silver,  in  Europe,  amounts  to  $1,101,400,000, 
and  that  of  this  amount  the  banks  of  France,  Germany,  Austro- 
Hungary,  The  Netherlands,  and  Belgium  hold  $428,866,665.  A 
large  part  of  these  vast  stocks  of  silver  would  be  ready  for  trans 
fer  to  us  at  once,  and  the  swiftest  steamers  would  be  employed 
to  deliver  it  to  the  Treasury,  in  order  that  with  the  proceeds  the 
owners  might  buy  gold  exchange  on  Europe  before  our  stock  of 
gold  should  be  exhausted. 

Would  our  own  people  await  the  arrival  of  these  silver  argosies 
from  Europe  before  acting  ?  Not  unless  the  Yankee  has  lost  his 
quick  scent  of  danger,  and  forgotten  his  cunning.  Bank  depositors. 


44 

trust  companies,  the  holders  of  United  States  notes  and  gold 
certificates  would  instantly  lock  up  all  the  gold  at  command,  and 
then  join  the  panic-inspired  procession  to  the  Treasury,  each  and 
all  anxious  to  be  in  time  to  grasp  the  golden  prize  before  it  is  too 
late,  Probably  before  the  swiftest  ocean  greyhound  could  land 
its  silver  cargo  at  New  York,  the  last  gold  dollar  within  reach 
would  be  safely  hidden  away  in  private  boxes  and  in  the  vaults 
of  safe-deposit  companies,  to  be  brought  out  only  by  a  high  pre 
mium  for  exportation,  This  sudden  retirement  of  $600,000,000 
of  gold,  with  the  accompanying  panic,  would  cause  contraction 
and  commercial  disaster  unparalleled  in  human  experience,  and 
our  country  would  at  once  step  down  to  the  silver  basis,  when 
there  would  be  no  longer  any  inducement  for  coinage,  and  silver 
dollars  would  sink  to  their  bullion  value. 

When  the  silver  dollar  ceases  to  have  more  value  than  the 
bullion  it  contains,  there  will  be  little  inducement  to  coin  our  own 
silver,  and  the  cost  of  transportation  will  prevent  its  coming  from 
abroad.  How  then  will  unlimited  coinage  either  expand  the  cir 
culation  or  enhance  the  value  of  silver? 

As  if  determined  to  omit  nothing  which  might  accelerate 
these  results,  the  advocates  of  present  free  coinage  insist  that  it 
shall  not  await  the  slow  process  of  mint  operations,  but  that  the 
printing-press  shall  be  set  to  work  providing  certificates  to  be 
issued  for  silver  bullion  at  one  dollar  for  371 J  grains. 

When  this  consummation  shall  be  reached,  as  surely  it  will  be 
if  unlimited  coinage  be  adopted  under  existing  conditions,  the  too 
ardent  and  impetuous  lovers  of  silver  will  sadly  realize  the  truth 
uttered  by  the  wise  King  of  Israel :  He  that  loveth  silver  shall  not 
be  satisfied]vtith  silver.  (Cheers  and  laughter.) 


45 

Mr.  President  and  gentlemen,  my  subject  has  tempted  me  to 
impose  upon  your  patience.  I  will  close  by  merely  calling  your 
attention  to  one  other  thing  which  I  deem  very  important  both  to 
our  commercial  and  financial  interest,  viz  :  the  passage  of  the 
bill  now  pending  in  Congress  for  the  establishment  of  an  inter 
national  bank  to  facilitate  our  exchanges  with  Mexico,  and  Cen 
tral  and  South  America.  New  York  is  destined,  at  no  distant 
day,  to  become  the  financial  as  well  as  the  commercial  center  of 
the  world,  and  such  an  institution  would  in  my  judgment  be  a 
long  step  toward  that  end,  as  well  as  a  most  valuable  instrumen 
tality  for  the  promotion  of  commerce  with  those  countries. 

Give  us  direct  and  ample  transportation  facilities  under  the 
American  flag,  and  controlled  by  American  citizens  ;  a  currency 
sound  in  quality  and  adequate  in  quantity ;  an  international  bank 
to  facilitate  exchanges,  and  a  system  of  reciprocity  carefully  ad 
justed  within  the  lines  of  protection,  and  not  only  will  our 
foreign  commerce  again  invade  every  sea,  but  every  American 
industry  will  be  quickened  and  our  whole  people  feel  the  impulse 
of  a  new  and  enduring  prosperity. 

When  Mr.  Windom  sat  down  after  speaking  forty-three 
minutes  there  was  deafening  applause  which  lasted 
several  minutes,  and  when  one  of  the  guests  proposed 
"Three  cheers  for  Windom/7  they  were  given  most 
heartily,  the  whole  body  of  merchants  rising  in  their 
places,  waving  their  napkins  and  manifesting  their  delight 
in  various  ways. 

Mr.  Windom  again  arose  and  bowed  his  acknowledg 
ment  of  the  applause  and  then  resumed  his  seat. 


46 


REMARKS  OF  JUDGE  ARNOUX  INTRODUCING 
THE  HON.  THOS.  F.  BAYARD. 


Gentlemen:  In  introducing  to  you  our  distinguished  guest, 
the  Hon.  Thomas  F.  Bayard,  I  may  be  pardoned  for  narrating  a 
personal  reminiscence  in  which  he  unconsciously  played  an 
important  part.  When  I  made  my  last  visit  abroad,  discarding 
all  ordinary  letters  of  introduction,  I  carried  with  me  only  two, 
one  of  which  was  a  brief  and  unpretentious  note  with  the  head 
ing,  "Department  of  State,  Washington,"  and  signed  by  the  late 
Secretary  of  State. 

While  in  Italy  my  letter  of  credit  became  worthless,  through  the 
failure  of  its  drawers,  leaving  me  without  funds,  among  strangers 
in  a  foreign  land.  Thus  situated,  I  presented  to  the  banker 
Mr.  Bayard's  letter ;  he  promptly  and  cordially  offered  to  me  all 
the  money  that  I  desired,  and  it  was  not  paid  in  silver.  (Laughter.) 

With  the  name  I  thus  conjured  so  successfully  three  years  ago 
in  Sunny  Italy,  I  come  before  you  to-night 


When  Judge  Arnoux  reached  this  point  a  commotion 
on  his  right  interrupted  his  remarks.  Mr.  Windom  had 
apparently  fainted.  For  an  instant  only  Mr.Windom's  face 
showed  signs  of  distress;  he  grasped  a  glass  of  water  which 
stood  on  the  table  before  him,  his  head  immediately 
dropped,  his  body  swayed  toward  the  right,  and  Secretary 
Tracy,  who  sat  beside  him,  lowered  him  to  the  floor.  He 


47 

was  immediately  conveyed  to  an  adjoining  room  where 
several  physicians  from  among  the  assembled  company 
were  promptly  at  his  side.  Electric  batteries  and  restor 
atives  were  brought  and  the  doctors  worked  industriously 
to  revive  him  even  after  all  hope  had  fled. 

Judge  Arnoux  soon  after  returned  to  the  Banquet  Hall 
and  announced  amid  profound  silence  and  expectancy  that 
William  Windom  was  dead.  The  company  then  quietly 
and  sadly  departed  to  their  homes. 


The  remaining  toasts  and  speakers  on  the  programme, 
which  was  so  suddenly  interrupted,  were  the  following: 

"  The  Comity  of  the  States  and  the  Comity  of  Nations  as 
Related  to  Trade  and  Transportation." 

Hon.  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD,  ex-Secretary  of  State 
of  the  United  States. 

"  Our  New  Navy." 

Hon.  BENJAMIN  F.  TRACY,  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

"  The  Future  of  Half  a  Continent." 

Hon.  WILFRED  LAURIER,  Leader  of  Her  Majesty's 
Opposition  in  the  Parliament  of  Canada. 

"  The  Tariff  and  American  Progress." 

Hon.  WILLIAM  McKiNLEY,  Jr.,  of  Ohio. 

11  The  New  South." 

Hon.  WM.  C.  P.  BRECKINRIDGE,  of  Kentucky. 

"Better  Relations." 

Hon.  JOHN  W.  LONGLEY,  Q.  C.,  Attorney- General 
of  Nova  Scotia. 

"The  Newspaper  as  an  Instrumentality  of  Commerce". 

Hon.  MURAT  HALSTEAD. 


48 

The  Committee  of  Arrangements,  complying  with  reso 
lutions  of  the  New  York  Board  of  Trade  and  Transpor 
tation  and  the  requests  of  many  friends,  present  herewith, 
printed  from  manuscript  kindly  furnished  for  that  pur 
pose,  the  undelivered  speeches  of  the  Hon.  THOS.  F. 
BAYARD,  the  Hon.  JOHN  W.  LONGLEY  and  the  Hon.  MURAT 
HALSTEAD. 

Secretary  TRACY  and  the  Hon.  WILFRED  LAI:RIER  had 
prepared  no  manuscript,  and  their  public  duties  have 
since  prevented  their  doing  so. 

The  Hon.  WILLIAM  McKiNLEY,  Jr.,  and  the  Hon.  WM. 
C.  P.  BRECKINRIDGE  were  unexpectedly  detained  by  their 
duties  in  Congress,  and  were  not  present  at  the  banquet. 


49 


SPEECH  OF  THE  HON.  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD, 

EX-SECRETARY  OF  STATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

in  response  to  the  toast,  "  THE  COMITY  OF  THE  STATES 
AND  THE  COMITY  OF  NATIONS  AS  RELATED  TO  TRADE  AND 
TRANSPORTATION." 

Gentlemen:  Assuredly  the  American  people  fulfil  the  pri 
meval  decree  that  they  shall  eat  bread  by  the  sweat  of  their  faces 
as  fully  as  any  other  portion  of  the  world's  inhabitants — but  the 
problem  of  sufficient  and  even  abundant  production  is  to-day 
coupled  with  another  of  equal  importance — distribution.  To  the 
latter  and  most  beneficient  purpose,  second  to  none  as  a  factor  in 
the  world's  welfare,  I  understand  your  vigorous  and  respected 
association  to  be  dedicated. 

Health  in  the  human  body  may  be  described  as  the  equilibrium 
of  the  vital  forces,  and  health  in  the  body  politic  is  similarly  the 
equilibrium  of  the  social  forces — the  diffusion  and  distribution  of 
the  products  of  industry — so  that  congestion  shall  not  paralyze 
one  part  of  the  world,  while  depletion  and  want  afflict  other 
parts — but  that  through  the  agency  of  wise  and  systematic 
arrangements  of  trade  and  transportation,  superabundance  any 
where  can  be  converted  into  abundance  everywhere,  and  human 
want  and  suffering  by  such  agencies  as  yours  will  be  no  longer 
possible  anywhere. 

The  remark  is  attributed  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  when 
asked  if  he  could  handle  an  army  of  one  hundred  thousand  men 
in  the  field,  he  replied  that  he  "  could  do  more  than  that,  he 


50 

could  feed  them."  Napoleon  you  know  said  the  strength  of  an 
army  lay  in  its  legs,  but  Wellington  believed  it  lay  in  its  stomach. 

That  eminent  and  sagacious  soldier,  had  his  life  been  pro 
longed  a  few  years,  would  have  been  quick  to  appreciate  the 
infinite  results,  in  a  military  point  of  view  alone,  of  the  marvel 
ous  expansion  of  trade  and  transportation  of  which  we  to-day 
are  witnesses. 

Such  results  are  well  epitomized  by  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson  in 
saying  that  the  difference  in  the  cost  of  one  year's  supply  in 
Boston,  the  dearest,  and  Chicago,  the  cheapest  food  market,  is 
procurable  by  the  wages  of  a  single  day  paid  to  an  average 
mechanic. 

For  the  transportation  of  a  barrel  of  beef  and  a  barrel  of  flour 
one  thousand  miles  can  be  accomplished  for  one  dollar  and 
twenty-five  cents — thanks  to  trunk  lines  of  railway. 

The  aggregate  of  such  beneficent  possibilities,  and  the  result 
ing  sense  of  the  value  and  importance  of  each  part  of  our  country 
to  every  other  part,  under  the  ideal  and  absolute  freedom  of 
trade  that  happily  exists  within  our  wide  borders,  must  be  deeply 
gratifying  to  the  contemplation  of  all  patriotic  men. 

"When  a  master  of  statistics  like  Mr.  Atkinson  computes  the 
tonnage  of  our  railway  transportation,  and  along  with  it  the 
valuation  of  the  merchandize  so  transported,  I  confess  that  my 
feeble  powers  are  staggered  in  the  effort  to  grasp  the  full  signifi 
cance  of  the  figures  presented  ;  but  I  venture  by  way  of  illus 
tration  to  quote  from  a  late  statement  by  him.  The  traffic  for  a 
single  year  over  the  railways  alone  has  already  increased  to 
62,000,000  tons,  each  ton  moved  one  hundred  and  eleven  miles, 
and  the  value  so  carried  amounted  to  $25,000,000,000. 


51 

But,  gentlemen,  your  functions  are  not  even  thus  limited,  but 
attach  themselves  to  a  still  wider  sphere,  not  only  to  the  opera 
tions  of  that  gigantic  body,  that  infinite  maze  of  railway  lines 
within  the  United  States,  which  extended  into  a  single  line  would 
encircle  the  earth  in  its  folds,  with  a  clasp  more  than  six  times 
repeated,  but  which  have  relation  equally  to  the  countless 
arteries  of  travel  and  communication,  natural  and  artificial,  which 
spread  themselves  in  silver  tracery  all  over  the  ample  bosom  of 
the  Republic. 

Your  sphere  of  action  embraces  the  great  streams  that  pour 
their  tributes  into  the  chain  of  the  inland  seas  upon  our  northern 
frontier — others  that  wend  their  way  to  the  semitropical  gulf 
on  our  southern  limit — and  others  that  merge  their  floods  with 
one  or  other  of  the  mighty  oceans  that  beat  upon  the  Eastern 
and  Western  flanks  of  our  Empire. 

But  not  even  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  or  the  Atlantic  do 
your  duties  and  capabilities  pause  or  linger,  but  over  and  beyond 
the  Pacific  to  China,  Korea,  Japan  and  Australia ;  over  and  be 
yond  the  Atlantic  to  Europe,  and  through  the  blue  waters  of  the 
Mediterranean  and  the  Suez  canal  you  connect  your  enterprise 
with  the  markets  of  India. 

And  is  not  the  day  now  near  at  hand  when  the  long-sought 
and  coveted  penetration  of  the  Isthmus,  which  lies  like  a  huge 
obstructive  dam  between  the  great  oceans,  shall  be  announced 
as  a  new  triumph  of  American  skill  and  enterprise,  and  the 
Nicaragua  canal  be  opened  and  dedicated  to  the  trade  and  trans 
portation  of  all  the  commercial  nations  of  the  world. 

The  subject  of  an  inter-continental  railway  passing  through  the 
states  of  Central  America  has  been  fortunately  committed  to  an 


52 

able  board  of  commissioners,  eminently  qualified  for  the  just 
comprehension  and  practical  accomplishment  of  the  great  design 
of  uniting  by  bands  of  steel  North  and  South  America  under 
relations  of  liberal  and  reciprocal  exchanges. 

But  to  assist  in  comprehending  the  present,  let  me  again  quote 
Mr.  Atkinson's  figures,  in  his  computation  of  the  valuation  of 
exchanges  of  merchandise  by  rivers,  canals,  wagons  and  hand- 
carriage,  in  addition  to  the  traffic  by  railway  lines  already  stated, 
by  which  a  total  is  announced  of  $50,000,000,000. 

How  immense,  how  impressive,  how  entrancing  is  the  picture, 
and  in  its  contemplation  every  American  heart  must  throb  with 
patriotic  pride.  Such  emotions  should  silence  forever  all  narrow 
and  sectional  jealousies  and  suspicions;  schemes  of  party  bitter 
ness  and  strife  should  be  driven  out  of  congressional  considera 
tion,  and  along  with  them  those  who  live  in  the  hot  and  unwhole 
some  breath  of  sectional  irritation  and  the  animosities  of  a  dead 
past. 

One  great  sentiment  should  alone  fill  our  hearts  and  occupy 
our  faculties — a  sense  of  the  grandeur  of  our  mission  as  a  nation, 
of  our  individual  and  collective  freedom  under  an  established 
government  of  laws,  and  of  gratitude  to  the  Euler  of  the  world 
that  he  has  committed  such  vast  interests  to  the  American  people. 

And  now  what  is  the  great  demand  of  our  time,  and  the  chief 
feature  essential  to  secure  the  fullest  and  most  perfect  fraction  of 
these  glorious  hopes? 

Kemembering  that  we  have  already  forty-four  States  and  four 
organized  Territories  under  our  Government — forty-four  con 
stituents  of  the  United  States,  as  Chief  Justice  Marshall  described 
them,  "  Members  of  one  great  Empire — for  some  purposes 
Sovereign — for  some  purposes  subordinate." 


53 

We  must  recognize  that  naturally,  almost  necessarily,  elements 
of  inter-state  difference  will  arise  ;  and  obstructions  of  rivalry,  of 
short-sighted  local  selfishness  which  are  hostile  to  free  and  liberal 
exchanges  will  clog  the  wheels  of  trade  and  transportation 
and  seek  to  embarrass  or  defeat  many  a  wise  and  well  conceived 
plan  of  commercial  enterprise. 

International  rivalries  exist,  and  variant  public  policies  ;  con 
flicts  of  law;  conflicts  of  private  interests;  jurisdictional  ques 
tions  between  States  or  as  to  the  prevalence  of  Federal  or  State 
authority — all  these  have  arisen  and  must  forever  in  one  shape 
or  another  arise  and  demand  satisfactory  adjustment. 

What  can  most  hopefully  be  invoked  to  compose  such  strifes 
— to  blend  the  energies  of  all  parties  and  induce  harmonious 
co-operation  in  the  great  work  of  assisting  to  bring  about  "  The 
parliament  of  man,  the  federation  of  the  world  "  ?  The  words 
of  your  toast  furnish  the  answer  :  "  The  comity  of  the  States 
and  the  comity  of  nations  as  related  to  trade  and  transportation." 

Comity  is  the  benignity  of  human  intercourse  in  all  its  rela 
tions.  It  is  the  great  panacea  for  social  and  political  discontents ; 
it  is  the  great  lubricant  of  the  wheels  of  commerce. 

Comity  is  international  legal  courtesy,  which  in  the  conflict  of 
laws  is  the  basis  of  the  recognition  of  foreign  laws,  and  for 
according  to  them  operation  in  the  interests  of  equity,  utility 
and  the  welfare  of  civilized  communities. 

It  contains  the  sentiment  of  Montesquin,  that  "Nations  ought 
to  do  each  other  as  much  good  in  peace,  and  as  little  harm  in 
war  as  possible,  without  injustice  to  their  own  interests." 

Comity  is  reciprocity  in  its  best  and  fullest  sense,  for  it  is 
based  upon  consideration  of  mutual  utility  and  convenience. 


54 

Every  nation  has  found  its  advantages,  every  citizen  has 
profited  by  it,  for  the  citizens  of  every  country  cannot  avoid 
having  interests  in  business  situated  abroad,  and  which  at  one 
time  or  another  will  need  the  friendly  recognition  and  support 
of  foreign  administration  and  laws. 

The  law  and  practice  of  comity  do  not  conform  to  a  necessity, 
nor  to  any  obligation  the  fulfilment  whereof  may  be  demanded, 
but  only  to  consideration  of  utility  and  reciprocal  convenience 
uex  comitate  ad  reciprocam  utililatem" 

Comity  requires  that  a  contract  entered  into  conformably  to 
the  laws  of  the  State  wherein  it  was  made  shall  be  held  binding 
everywhere  provided  it  shall  not  prejudice  the  interests  of  other 
States  or  their  citizens,  recognizing  the  maxim  "Locus  contractis 
regit  actum." 

And  Courts  of  Justice  everywhere  should  be  as  accessible  to 
foreigners  as  to  natives,  and  equality  and  impartiality  in  the 
administration  of  justice  should  be  everywhere  guaranteed  as  an 
essential  of  civilization. 

Comity  may  be  created  by  the  express  words  of  a  treaty,  or 
by  co-ordinate  statutes,  but  the  best  and  most  useful  comity  is 
found  in  the  reciprocal  protection  which  the  tacit  convention  of 
civilized  people  extend  to  the  gratification  of  reciprocal  wants. 

This  tacit  consent  proves  its  existence  in  acts  of  international 
assistance  and  courtesy ;  in  the  tone  of  friendly  negotiation ; 
in  judicial  and  administrative  decisions;  in  the  writings  of  pub 
licists,  and  in  the  practical  methods  of  such  important  and 
influential  associations  as  I  have  the  honor  to  address. 

The  decisions  of  the  Inter-State  Commerce  Commission  abound 
in  valuable  and  important  suggestions  of  the  necessity  of  comity, 


55 

and  the  embarrassments  and  difficulties  that  arise  wherever 
it  is  withheld. 

Following  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  injunctions  of  the  consti 
tution,  the  judicial  branch  of  our  government  has  greatly  assisted 
by  a  course  of  important  decisions  to  strengthen  the  law  of 
comity  by  discouraging  obstructions  to  free  commerce  between 
the  States  of  the  Union,  so  that  the  advantages  of  each  State  may 
be  freely  enjoyed  by  the  citizens  of  all  the  States. 

Equity,  utility  and  mutual  convenience,  these  are  the  causes 
of  the  comitas  gentiumt  the  very  antithesis  of  coercion,  securing 
peace  and  concord  between  nations,  softening  asperities,  dispell 
ing  prejudices,  harmonizing  the  diversities  of  jurisprudence, 
liberalizing  and  elevating  the  national  character,  and  blessing 
alike  the  nation  that  receives  and  the  nation  that  bestows. 

I  ask  you  all  to  rise  with  full  glasses  and  drink  to  the  spirit  of 
comity :  — 

First — Between  the  indestructible  States  of  our  indestructible 
Union  ; 

And  next — Between  our  friends  and  neighbors  on  this  conti 
nent,  Canada  on  the  North,  and  Mexico  on  the  South ; 

And  next — To  Pan  America  ;  and,  not  stopping  there,  let  us 
carry  the  law  of  comity  and  the  American  flag  all  over  the 
world. 


56 


SPEECH  OF  THE  HON.  JOHN  W.  LONGLEY, 

ATTORNEY-GENERAL  OF  NOVA  SCOTIA, 

in  response  to  the  sentiment  of  "BETTER  RELATIONS." 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen: 

I  must  congratulate  myself  upon  having  such  an  exceptionally 
excellent  opportunity  of  bringing  to  the  notice  of  the  United 
States  the  conditions  and  circumstances  of  her  great  neighbor  to 
the  North.  In  this  age  it  is  not  so  much  what  one  says  that  is 
important  as  the  occasion  of  saying  it — the  audience  that  can  be 
induced  to  listen.  I  see  around  me  the  representative  men  of 
the  great  commercial  metropolis  of  North  America — the  million 
aires  and  merchant  princes  who  have  not  only  built  up  a  great 
city,  but  have  brought  the  greatest  enlightenment  to  the  wide 
reaching  principles  of  trade,  and  whose  intelligence  and  honor 
are  unsurpassed  among  the  mercantile  potentates  of  the  world. 
The  occasion  is  graced  by  some  of  the  greatest  thinkers  and 
most  experienced  and  distinguished  of  the  statesmen  of  the 
country.  I  see  every  token  of  the  marvellous  development 
within  the  compass  of  scarcely  a  century,  which  has  marked  the 
history  of  this  great  English-speaking  nation.  In  the  midst  of 
so  much  that  is  great  and  absorbing  in  your  internal  affairs,  so 
varied  and  so  widely  extended,  it  is  not  strange  that  only  meagre 
attention  is  left  for  the  affairs  of  the  outside  world.  But  it  must 
never  be  forgotten  that  great  powers  involve  great  responsibili 
ties,  and,  whatever  sage  injunctions  to  abstain  from  meddling 
with  European  entanglements  may  have  dropped  from  the  lips 
of  the  venerated  father  of  this  Republic,  the  time  has  come  when 


America  has  got  to  recognize  that  her  mission  extends  beyond 
her  own  borders  and  relates  to  the  well-being  of  the  whole 
human  race.  But  however  much  wisdom  may  sanction  abstain 
ing  from  European  entanglements,  nothing  can  prevent  the 
United  States  from  having  an  interest  in  the  English-speaking 
people  who  have  just  taken  on  the  form  of  national  life,  and  who 
are  with  them  the  joint  occupants  of  the  Continent  of  North 
America.  Canada  is  your  neighbor,  and  each  day  will  reveal 
the  innumerable  ties  which  evoke  a  community  of  interest  which 
time  will  only  increase  and  make  more  manifest.  It  is  stated  of 
Napoleon  that  during  the  celebrated  Russian  invasion  of  1812 
some  one  spoke  to  him  of  General  Barclay  de  Tolly  and  his 
prowess.  The  great  commander  contemptuously  replied  that  he 
was  not  afraid  of  General  Barclay  de  Tolly,  but  it  was  General 
January  and  General  February  that  he  feared.  The  result  showed 
the  sagacity  of  his  reflection.  I  feel  like  adapting  his  remark. 
It  is  not  American  diplomacy  that  I  fear,  nor  American  hostility 
or  lack  of  generosity.  The  great  enemy  that  Canada  has  to  con 
tend  with  in  the  United  States  is  general  indifference.  Confess 
it  now.  Of  this  large  and  most  influential  gathering,  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  nation's  life,  how  many  have  ever  taken  much 
thought  of  Canada  and  the  relations  which  she  bears  to  every 
problem  that  you  are  now  working  out?  How  many  have 
stopped  to  inquire  into  her  vast  area,  her  population,  her  system 
of  Government,  her  development  in  national  life — the  regnant 
thought  of  her  people — her  ultimate  destiny  and  how  far  her 
growth  and  power  constitute  a  factor  in  the  destinies  which  the 
race  is  working  out  on  this  Continent?  And  yet  she  is  your 
nearest  neighbor,  with  a  race  and  language  identical  with  your 
own  and  looking  forward  to  a  career  as  great. 


58 

Canada  has  over  5,000,000  of  people — more  than  the  United 
States  had  when  she  achieved  her  independence  and  began 
national  life.  In  wealth,  resources  and  development  no  com 
parison  with  that  period  is  possible.  She  has  built  great  trans 
continental  lines  of  railroad,  has  growing  cities,  and  a  well 
matured  political  constitution  founded  upon  the  Federal  system. 
She  has  free  education,  and  vast  resources  of  soil,  mine,  forest 
and  sea.  She  is  growing  more  rapidly  than  any  other  nation 
upon  the  globe.  She  breathes  the  free  atmosphere  of  North 
American  civilization.  There  is  scarcely  a  burning  question 
agitating  the  minds  of  American  thinkers,  writers  and  public 
men  to-day  that  does  not  find  its  counterpart  among  the  politic 
al  and  social  problems  of  Canada.  Whatever  may  be  the  senti 
ment  of  to-day  here,  the  sentiment  of  to-morrow  will  be  that 
Canada  is  worth  thinking  about. 

It  unfortunately  happens  that  the  chief  agencies  which  have 
tended  to  evoke  passing  interest  in  Canada  of  late  have  been 
those  which  are  calculated  to  provoke  unpleasant  impressions. 
There  has  been  a  nasty  little  fishing  embroglio,  and  before  this 
is  disposed  of  a  seal  question  has  loomed  up,  and  while  these  are 
being  debated  comes  the  cognate  unpleasantness  regarding  the 
railway  lines  and  bonded  privileges.  Let  it  be  understood  that 
I  stand  here  as  a  self-respecting  Canadian,  regarding  the  interests 
and  honor  of  his  country  as  of  paramount  importance,  and  not 
disposed  because  of  weakness  to  yield  any  right  or  privilege  to 
which  she  is  in  justice  entitled,  and  which  no  great  arid  generous 
nation  would  seek  to  usurp.  But  I  cannot  help  regarding  the 
continued  existence  of .  these  unpleasantnesses  as  needless,  and 
.unworthy  of  the  wisdom  of  those  guiding  the  affairs  of  both. 


59 

Intrinsically  the  matters  in  difference  are  but  of  small  concern. 
They  are  magnified  by  a  lack  of  that  generous  confidence  which 
would  seek  to  come  together  and  settle  them  upon  broad  and  just 
principles ;  and  it  is  sometimes  to  be  feared  that  they  are  intensi 
fied  by  the  low  desire  to  manufacture  political  capital.  That 
nation  makes  a  profound  blunder  and  degrades  its  institutions 
which  carries  its  relations  with  kindred  nations  into  the  arena  of 
party  conflict.  Whatever  other  nations  may  do,  the  United 
States  and  Canada  cannot  afford  to  deal  with  each  other  in  any 
narrow  and  petty  spirit  of  haggling.  They  have  too  much  in 
common  in  their  relations  with  each  other — and  their  joint  rela 
tions  with  the  rest  of  the  world. 

Some  Americans  have  an  easy  solution  of  all  present  diffi 
culties — it  is  to  absorb  Canada  into  the  Union — and  thus  settle 
all.  Let  us  dismiss  this  for  the  present  as  not  in  the  range  of 
practical  action.  Just  at  this  period  a  feeling  of  national  pride 
is  taking  root  in  the  rising  generation  of  young  Canadians.  If 
their  interests  point  them  to  a  political  union  with  the  United 
States,  their  sagacity  can  be  trusted  to  lead  them  to  the  discovery. 
Nor  will  any  suggestions  or  coercion  facilitate  their  reaching 
such  conclusion.  It  is  infinitely  better  not  to  take  the  political 
aspect  of  the  case  into  consideration. 

But  there  is  a  way  of  settling  all  difficulties,  consistent  with 
the  interest  and  honor  of  both  countries.  With  a  boundary  line 
extending  close  upon  4,000  miles  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
why  should  they  not  agree  to  take  down  the  customs  barriers 
and  trade  freely,  the  one  with  the  other?  Kemember  I  arn 
speaking  my  own  sentiments  when  I  advocate  such  a  policy. 
All  Canadians  do  not  favor  this  view.  I  do  not  even  represent 


60 

the  Government  of  the  country.  But  governments  come  and 
governments  go — the  sovereign  power  rests  with  the  people.  To 
day  in  Canada  one  of  the  great  parties  has  adopted  as  the  chief — 
supreme — plank  in  its  platform,  unrestricted  trade  with  the 
States.  The  success  of  this  policy  means  an  end  to  fishery 
squabbles,  an  end  to  bonding  problems.  Under  such  a  policy 
American  fishermen  can  roam  our  waters  and  take  all  the  fish 
they  can  find.  Enter  our  ports  for  all  the  bait  and  supplies  they 
need,  and  forward  all  the  fish  they  desire  to  their  own  markets. 
Under  such  a  policy  the  great  natural  resources  of  Canada  are 
available  for  the  great  industrial  activities  of  this  nation,  and 
the  products  of  your  factories  will  have  exactly  the  same  chance 
in  Canadian  markets  as  in  your  own.  American  capital  can 
find  investment  in  the  rich  and  exhaustless  mineral  deposits  of 
Canada.  After  a  hundred  years  of  industrial  development  no 
American  will  admit  that  his  country  is  afraid  to  compete  on 
equal  terms  with  Canada,  and  in  the  name  of  Canadian  pluck  I 
say  that  we  are  not  afraid  to  compete  with  you.  The  conditions 
are  identical.  We  have  no  pauper  labor  in  Canada.  We  pro 
pose  that  the  hardy  men  whose  toil  creates  wealth  shall  receive 
fair  wage  for  their  labor,  and  have  their  share  in  the  enjoyment 
of  common  luxuries,  in  this  free  land  of  North  America. 

This  freedom  of  trade  throughout  this  continent  is  no  dream. 
It  is  easily  a  practical  question.  ,  I  confidently  expect  that  the 
party  of  unrestricted  reciprocity  in  Canada  will  win  at  the  next 
elections  which  are  near.  If  this  be  so  can  it  be  that  they  will 
be  met  in  any  other  than  a  generous  spirit  by  the  men  who  con 
trol  the  affairs  of  this  great  nation?  Noblesse  oblige.  Your 
very  greatness — your  superior  strength  and  power  will  compel 


61 

you  to  yield  most  in  establishing  at  once  and  forever  a  basis  of 
perpetual  friendship  and  a  termination  of  all  petty  matters  of 
difference. 

I  have  spoken  for  "Better  Relations  "—not,  indeed,  union,  but 
comity — not  amalgamation,  but  commercial  unity.  But  even  in 
this  great  commercial  centre  and  surrounded  by  these  men  of 
national  repute,  and  under  the  eye  of  a  metropolitan  press,  it 
seems  necessary  to  plead  for  better  knowledge  and  greater 
interest.  I  wish  you  to  recognize  that  Canada  is  your  nearest 
neighbor  and  has  a  great  career.  To-day  her  population  is  only 
a  little  over  5,000,000,  but,  if  we  go  back  100  years,  was  there 
one  of  your  ancestors  who  thought  his  country  of  small  import 
when  it  contained  only  5,000,000  souls  ?  Sir,  the  fire  of  national 
pride  burned  as  brightly  then  as  it  does  to  day.  In  two  genera 
tions  Canada  will  have  over  20,000,000.  Our  grandchildren  will 
see  it  outstripping  the  nations  of  Europe  in  wealth,  resources 
and  refinement.  Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  to  nations  time 
is  not  analogous  in  its  effect  to  the  case  of  individuals.  Most  of 
us  soon  begin  to  realize  how  little  there  is  in  human  life  and  how 
soon  the  period  of  action  is  passed,  and  the  years  which  may  be 
left  seem  but  a  short  halting  ground  between  us  and  the  great 
unknown  beyond.  But  to  nations  there  is  nothing  in  age.  A 
long  history  is  no  bar  to  all  the  elements  of  prosperity  and 
happiness.  We  cannot  afford  to  look  at  this  matter 
solely  from  the  standpoint  of  to-day.  We  must  look  be 
yond.  Who  can  doubt  that  North  America  before 
many  generations  is  to  cut  an  immense  figure  in  the 
history  of  the  world  ?  Who  fails  to  recognize  that  it  will  soon 
be  the  home  of  hundreds  of  millions,  with  no  race  prejudices, 


62 

with  a  common  language  and  at  the  van  of  human  civiliza 
tion?  When  that  day  comes,  sir,  Canada  will  be  there  holding 
her  own  place  and  influence  in  the  counsels  of  the  Continent. 
She  will  be  working  out  with  you  the  destinies  of  North 
America.  She  is  small  to-day,  but  she  is  your  neighbor  and  she 
has  the  elements  of  greatness.  Look  to  her  with  respect. 
Treat  her  as  a  neighbor  and  an  equal.  Kecognize  that  she 
is  of  more  direct  concern  to  you  than  any  nation  of  Europe, 
however  populous,  and  each  year  her  relative  importance  will  be 
increased.  In  this  great  commercial  metropolis  it  ought  not  to 
be  necessary  to  plead  for  unrestricted  commercial  intercourse. 
In  this  center  of  the  great  English  speaking  nation  of  North 
America  it  ought  not  to  be  necessary  to  plead  for  interest  in 
another  growing  English-speaking  nation,  with  similar  laws, 
institutions  and  aims.  Let  us  to-night  extend  our  ideas  not  alone 
over  this  great  nation,  but  over  this  great  continent.  Let  us  not 
be  wholly  filled  with  contemplation  of  the  present,  but  look  be 
yond  to  the  great  future  which  our  children  will  see,  in  which 
North  America  will  be  the  seat  of  political  power — the  home  of 
culture  and  art,  the  enlightened  arbiter  of  the  nations  of  the  world. 


SPEECH  OF  THE  HON.  MURAT  HALSTEAD, 

in  response  to  the  toast,  "  THE  NEWSPAPER  AS  AN  INSTRU 
MENTALITY  OF  COMMERCE." 

Gentlemen  of  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Transportation : 

The  texts  before  us  teach  that  the  prosperity  of  the  country  is 
dependent  upon  its  instruments  of  commerce,  and  that  the  news 
paper  is  one  of  the  instrumentalities ;  and  we  find  the  comity  of 
states  and  nations  related  to  trade  and  transportation,  aptly 
associated  with  our  new  navy  and  our  neighbors — an  adjustment 
too  artistic  to  be  accidental.  The  sweep  of  a  broad  design 
appears  in  the  juxtaposition  of  the  instruments  of  commerce,  the 
newspaper,  our  old  friends  and  the  new  navy.  May  they  always 
work  together  for  good. 

There  is  a  chance  for  choice  in  lines  of  treatment  of  newspaper 
instrumentality  in  commerce,  as  there  are  many  possible  appli 
cations.  The  most  direct  is  the  use  of  the  paper  as  an  advertis 
ing  medium,  and  I  venture  to  commend  it  in  that  capacity.  We 
fail  to  exercise  our  best  intelligence  in  our  own  affairs  if  we  do 
not  talk  shop,  and  we  should  do  it  frankly  and  come  to  business. 
In  advertising,  the  newspaper  has  unapproachable  facilities.  It 
surpasses  the  rocks  of  picturesque  Europe  and  America,  so  often 
overloaded  with  decorations,  extra  leaves  in  almanacs  and  maga 
zines,  the  cars  on  elevated  and  surface  roads,  even  the  magic 
lantern,  the  blank  wall  and  the  board  fence.  The  spectacular 
posters  are  great  as  art  galleries,  outshine  the  old  masters,  and 
rival  the  most  brilliant  work  of  the  modern  painters  who  paint 
with  their  thumbs. 


64 

It  will  hardly  be  expected  that  I  should  speak  of  the  gigantic 
circulation  of  the  average  newspaper,  for  there  is  not  one  that 
has  not  got  it,  and  is  not  willing  to  tell  of  it.  They  all  can  and 
do  prove  it.  If  the  circulation  is  not  acceptably  large,  it  is 
always  extremely  select,  and  the  agents  of  commerce  can  be 
introduced  to  any  preferred  style  of  constituency  at  the  regular 
rates,  with  a  liberal  discount  to  customers  contracting  by  the 
year. 

In  the  name  of  things  beautiful,  spare  the  landscape  caricature, 
and  yield  to  the  newspapers  their  natural  nourishment — expanding 
the  white  sails  of  commerce  by  extending  the  sheets  that  are 
amply  provided  as  an  instrumentality  for  the  proclamation — each 
line  duly  valued — of  all  its  glories. 

There  are  contentions  about  the  area  of  commercial  utilities — 
the  limitations  that  it  is  public  policy  to  place  on  trade.  Perhaps 
the  allied  farmers  may  soon  shed  the  light  of  their  inner  con 
sciousness  over  the  history  and  problems  of  trade  and  transporta 
tion.  They  have  already  mastered  the  science  of  finance,  and 
their  elementary  doctrine — it  is  not  a  discovery,  but  a  very  old 
tale — is  that  money  should  possess  no  value  in  itself,  is  spoilt  for 
currency  when  it  is  worth  something,  should  be  made  abundant 
by  the  Government  for  the  relief  of  the  people,  and  that  the 
coinage  of  paper  and  the  prosperity  of  the  populace  go  hand 
in  hand. 

The  application  of  a  great  principle  like  this  to  commerce  will 
be  instructive,  as  are  the  rural  reforms  in  transportation,  where 
they  hold  the  more  you  restrain  the  natural  channels  the  greater 
the  freedom  of  the  flow. 

The  original  farmers  who  busied  themselves  with  the  Kepublic, 


65 

held  that  the  perfection  of  trade  and  transportation  was  attained 
when  the  planters  on  the  tide  waters  of  Virginia  rolled  their 
tobacco  direct  from  the  fields  upon  ships,  and  received  in  return 
from  the  mother  and  master  country  fine  clothing  and  furniture, 
port  wine,  and  brick  to  build  churches.  It  has  been  suspected, 
since  that  era,  that  it  is  the  better  way  to  manufacture  some 
things  at  home,  and  there  is  a  consensus  of  public  opinion  that 
we  should,  any  how,  work  our  own  mud  and  burn  our  own  brick. 
Much  further  than  that  we  do  not  go  altogether. 

All  nations  are  given  to  the  form  of  selfishness  that  they 
call  protecting  their  industries,  and  raising  revenue  by  charges 
for  the  use  of  their  markets.  The  general  purpose  is  not  the 
restraint  of  commerce,  but  the  aggrandizement  of  local  interests, 
and  through  the  development  of  the  resources  of  a  state,  the  es 
tablishment  of  its  independence.  Tariff  reform  in  the  direction 
of  commercial  freedom  encounters,  in  advanced  countries,  the 
same  obstacle  that  the  military  empires  find  to  disarmament 
— always  some  one  else  must  set  the  example. 

If  we  cannot  agree  upon  conditions  and  policies  that  would 
restore  our  prestige  on  the  seas ;  if  we  shrink  from  the  logic  of 
the  situation,  and  find  mysterious  lack  of  authority  in  the  consti 
tution,  or  incompetency  in  public  men  to  master  the  larger  mat 
ters,  so  that  private  enterprise  has  to  assume  the  higher  duties, 
we  have,  at  least,  to  say  that  our  home  market  is  the  best  in  the 
world,  our  internal  commerce  greater  than  that  of  any  other  peo 
ple,  ojjr  railroad  channels  exceeding  even  the  monster  rivers  in 
available  ability,  transporting  the  incomparable  riches  of  the 
continent  to  this  gateway,  at  once  magnificent  and  marvelous, 
where  Hendrick  Hudson  found,  and  knew  it  not,  what  he,  like 
Columbus,  sought — the  road  to  India. 


66 

Here  we  have  the  East  and  the  West,  the  energies  of  Europe, 
the  resources  of  Asia.  Commerce  is  exalted  in  honor,  and  the 
trophies  of  ages  are  gathered.  Trade  and  transportation  become 
expressive  of  the  grandeur  of  the  system  that  touches  the  ends  of 
the  earth  and  influences  the  people  along  all  the  railroads  and 
rivers,  and  on  every  shore  where  the  kindly  lights  that  tell  of 
civilization  shine  over  the  stormy  surf,  a  warning  and  a  welcome 
to  the  instrumentalities  of  commerce,  whose  career  is  on  the 
mighty  waters. 

We  must  not  confine  the  newspaper  service  rendered  com 
merce  to  that  of  advertising,  though  we  should  include  in  the 
sense  of  that  word  every  form  of  the  irradiation  of  intelligence 
promoting  the  intimate  intercourse  of  men  and  nations.  The 
newspaper  has  a  part  to  perform  in  popular  education,  and  sup 
plements  and  enlivens  the  old  stories  of  the  schools  with  the  news 
of  the  day.  Its  easy  office  is  the  information  of  the  multitude, 
and  with  that  goes  increase  of  popular  requirements.  Upon  the 
humble  ways  where  hope  is  dim  the  light  falls,  and  there  is  a 
glimpse  of  better  things  that  kindles  aspiration  and  opens  oppor 
tunity  to  ambition.  The  hut  becomes  the  house  that  is  a  home, 
and  the  industrious,  sharing  in  the  prosperity  that  their  hands 
have  wrought,  add  to  their  comforts  as  they  thrive — subscribe  for 
the  newspapers  and  better  the  markets — and  it  is  found  that  in 
an  atmosphere  of  intelligence  the  commercial  interests  and  instru 
mentalities  are  reputable  and  prosperous. 

There  is  one  thing  more,  and  far  above  all.  It  is  that  which 
the  newspaper  may  contribute  to  good  government — that  is,  to 
fair  play  among  men — and  when  we  speak  of  the  press  and  its 
public  force  let  us  have  a  care  that  we  include  the  greater  part. 


67 

There  are,  say,  two  score  journals  of  celebrity  in  this  country,  and 
a  few  familiar  names  of  editors,  and  there  are  many  thousands  of 
country  newspapers  and  editors  who  take  themselves  more  seri 
ously  than  the  metropolitans. 

It  is  not  in  good  form  for  a  newspaper  of  wide  fame  and  circu 
lation  to  be  frequently  in  desperate  earnest.  A  burning  conviction 
indulged  is  not  conducive  to  profit  or  pleasure,  and  if  happiness 
is  pursued  by  crusaders  of  principle  with  fire  and  sword — it  is 
by  anticipation  in  some  of  the  countries  that  the  song  tells  us  are 
far  away,  and  fairer  than  this.  The  tomahawk  and  scalping  knife 
are  barbarous  weapons,  and  in  the  metropolitan  wilderness  offend  ; 
and  the  editor  enlisted  and  disciplined  for  duty  under  orders,  in 
a  colossal  establishment,  finds  gentle  persuasion  and  gentler  co 
ercion  softening  away  his  native  barbarism  of  virtue  and  his 
pristine  vigor  as  a  warrior. 

In  the  presence  of  these  superb  organizations  of  newspaperdom, 
the  equipage  beyond  the  dreams  of  all  other  days — the  amazing 
news  service,  the  presses  that  are  wonders,  the  staffs  of  the  journals 
that  rival  those  of  monarchs — it  must  be  said  that  the  pomp  of 
preparation  is  more  imposing  than  the  spread  of  performance.  In 
the  array  that  represents  investment  rather  than  intellect,  the  in 
dividuality  that  bears  edge  and  point,  that  masters  critical  condi 
tions,  and  leads  public  opinion  with  torch  and  battle  axe,  is 
obscured  if  not  extinguished,  and  the  vivid  influences  that  pene 
trate  like  fire,  and  with  insufferable  illumination  blast  the  giant 
evils  that  crawl  upon  us  in  shapes  of  darkness  in  the  midst  of 
our  splendors,  fade  and  never  burst  into  flame. 

Where  now  shall  we  seek  the  instrumentalities  that  in  evil 
days  save  the  state?  Shall  we  find  in  the  press  of  this 


68 

community — the  offices  full  of  talent  and  the  papers  full  of 
brilliant  work — the  commanding  quality  that  enters  the  coal  and 
the  silver  mines  of  the  Alleghanies  and  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
that  pervades  the  wheat  and  the  cotton  fields,  and  is  felt  where 
the  forges  glow  and  where  the  earth  trembles  under  the  rushing 
shock  of  the  limited  lightning  express? 

Ah,  no !  The  brain  that  divines,  the  will  that  directs  are  not 
close  enough  to  the  mechanism  that  is  consummate  and  the  people 
who  are  to  be  persuaded.  There  are  interposed  the  telegraph 
and  telephone,  the  phonograph  and  the  phonographsr,  and  per 
haps  the  photograph,  and  the  staff  officers.  The  irons  on  the 
anvil  are  not  hammered  into  shape  red  hot,  the  kindling  sparks 
a  flying !  There  is  no  lack  of  brain  or  brawn,  toil  or  skill,  or 
zeal  or  art  or  facile  achievement,  but  there  is  wanting  the  man 
with  self-appointed  task,  to  sit  in  his  own  office  and  write  for  his 
own  newspaper  his  own  thoughts,  indifferent  to  stockholder, 
subscriber,  advertiser,  managing  editor,  or  managing  politician  : 
sending  his  sheets  of  copy  to  the  printer,  every  line  tingling  as  if 
with  electricity  and  still  wet  with  ink,  and  no  time  to  blot  or  to 
smooth  away  the  corners  or  the  edges. 

That  was  the  way  Horace  Greeley  did  it,  when  his  lightnings 
struck  home  and  he  educated  his  countrymen  under  the  fiery 
lash  of  his  innocent,  ardent  and  righteous  indignation.  This 
was  before  the  methods  that  restrained  genius  within  the  solemn 
limitations  of  the  common  place,  and  the  imperial  assertion  of 
the  polite  pre-eminence  of  complacency  were  recognized  as 
metropolitan. 

The  newspaper  reflects  and  represents  rather  than  creates.  The 
strength  and  weakness  of  time  and  place  are  in  it.     Its  record  of 


69 

usefulness  overshadows  its  faults.  When  the  great  cities  and  the 
great  country  at  large  have  evolved  readiness  for  good  govern 
ment  the  press  will  be  a  potential  instrumentality  of  reforma 
tion.  Meantime — may  be  a  very  long  time — it  will  aid  the  enter 
prise  of  commerce  and  clear  the  paths  of  progress — performing 
as  a  continuous  occupation  the  duty  of  making  universal  the 
history  of  the  times  from  day  to  day — bestowing  upon  mankind 
the  immense  and  beneficent  justice  of  equality  of  information — 
wrapping  in  the  electric  radiance  of  intelligence  common  to  all 
the  great  globe  we  inherit. 


VD   12547 


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